LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL  OF  PEESIDENT  LINCOLN. 


MEMORIAL 


PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


v« 


BOSTON: 
PRINTED   BY   ORDER    OF   THE    CITY    COUNCIL. 

MDCCCLXV. 


PRINTED    BY   J.    E.   FARWELL    &    COMPANY, 
PEINTKKS    TO    THE    CITY. 


CONTENTS. 


Death  of  the  President 9 

Proceedings  of  the  City  Council. . . .  * 15 

Communication  of  Mayor  Lincoln 15 

Remarks  of  Alderman  Messinger 18 

Resolves 19 

Remarks  of  the  President  of  the  Council 22 

Meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall 27 

Address  of  Mayor  Lincoln 27 

Remarks  of  Hon.  P.  W.  Chandler 30 

Resolutions • 32 

Speech  of  Hon.  Charles  G.  Loring 34 

Speech  of  Hon.  A.  H.  Rice • 50 

Speech  of  Hon.  R.  H.  Dana,  Jr • 56 

Procession  and  servic'es  in  Music  Hall. 63 

Eulogy  of  Hon.  Charles  Sumner 87 


DEATH  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 


DEATH  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 


As  the  President  of  the  United  States  was  sitting  with  his  wife 
in  a  private  box  at  Ford's  Theatre  in  Washington,  on  the  evening 
of  April  14,  1865,  —  happy  in  view  of  the  speedy  termination  of 
a  protracted  civil  war,  and  the  fulfilment  of  his  high  purpose,  —  he 
received  a  death-wound  from  a  pistol-shot  fired  by  an  assassin. 
He  never  spoke  afterwards ,  but  lingered  until  twenty-two  minutes 
past  seven  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  April  15,  when  he  died. 
The  news  of  his  death  was  received  in  this  city  soon  after  eight 
o'clock,  through  a  despatch  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  pro- 
duced feelings  of  sadness  and  alarm  never  before  equalled.  By 
order  of  His  Honor,  the  Mayor,  the  bells  were  immediately  tolled, 
and  the  flags  on  all  public  buildings  were  displayed  at  half  mast. 
The  places  of  business  and  amusement  were  all  closed,  and  the 
insignia  of  mourning  appeared  on  nearly  every  building,  public  and 
private,  in  the  city.  An  informal  meeting  was  organized  early  in 
the  day  at  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  and  a  Committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  prepare  and  send  a  despatch  to  Washington,  expressing 
sympathy  for  the  family  of  the  deceased,  and  giving  an  assurance 
of  confidence  and  support  to  his  constitutional  successor  —  ANDEEW 
JOHNSON.  The  message  was  forwarded  by  Mayor  Lincoln,  with  the 
following  indorsement :  — 


10  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

MAYOR'S  OFFICE,  CITY  HALL, 
Boston,  April  15,  1865. 

To   His    EXCELLENCY,   ANDREW   JOHNSON,   WASHINGTON, 

D.  C.:  — 

I  have  the  honor  to  forward  the  accompanying  resolu- 
tion, passed  by  the  citizens  of  Boston  upon  hearing  of  the 
sad  event  which  has  cast  the  -Nation  in  gloom ;  and  I 
desire  to  unite  most  sincerely  in  their  expression  of  grief, 
and  in  the  patriotic  resolve  to  support  the  constituted  au- 
thorities in  their  efforts  to  uphold  the  integrity  of  the 
Republic. 

F.  W.   LINCOLN,   JR.,   Mayor. 


RESOLUTION    OF    THE    CITIZENS. 

The  citizens  of  Boston,  overwhelmed  with  grief  at  the 
awful  calamity  which  has  befallen  our  common  country, 
in  the  tragic  death  of  its  great  and  good  President,  and  in 
the  deadly  assault  upon  the  wise  and  sagacious  Secretary 
of  State  and  members  of  his  family,  spontaneously  assem- 
bled at  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  and  re'solved,  that  an 
expression  of  their  strong  and  fervent  sympathy  be  imme- 
diately sent  to  the  surviving  members  of  the  afflicted 
families,  in  view  of  the  irreparable  loss  which  they  and 
their  countrymen  have  sustained  by  this  sad  event ;  and, 
also,  that  a  message  be  sent  to  Andrew  Johnson,  the  con- 
stitutional successor  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  as  President  of 
these  United  States,  of  their  confidence  in  his  integrity, 
his  patriotism,  and  his  manhood ;  and  their  determination 


RESOLUTION    OF    THE    CITIZENS.  11 

to  give  him  their  undivided  and  unfaltering  support,  im- 
ploring the  blessing  of  God  to  guide  him  with  the  wisdom 
and  virtue  which  characterized  his  lamented  predecessor. 

ALEXANDER  H.  RICE, 
GEORGE  B.  UPTON, 
JAMES  L.  LITTLE, 
AVERY  PLUMER, 
ALPHEUS  HARDY, 
EDWARD  S.  TOBEY, 
PHINEAS  STOWE, 

E.  R.  MUDGE, 

Committee. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CITY  COUNCIL. 


PROCEEDINGS  OP  THE  CITY  COUNCIL. 


CITY  or  BOSTON,  April  17,  1865. 

A  SPECIAL  meeting  of  the  City  Council  of  Boston  was  convened 
at  twelve  o'clock  this  day,  by  order  of  His  Honor,  Frederic  W. 
Lincoln,  Jr.,  Mayor,  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  their  respect  to 
the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  late  President  of  the  United 
States. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN. 

There  were  present  at  this  meeting  the  Mayor  and  all  the 
Aldermen. 

The  Board  having  been  called  to  order  by  the  Mayor,  he  spoke 
as  follows  :  —  . 

To  THE  HONORABLE  THE  CITY  COUNCIL  :  — 

GENTLEMEN  :  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  expired  at  Washington  on  the  morning  of 
April  15,  between  the  hours  of  seven  and  eight  o'clock. 
The  death  of  one  so  distinguished,  whose  eminent  services 
for  the  last  four  years  have  been  so  valuable  to  his  country, 
and  whose  individual  opinions  and  actions  were  considered 
so  vital  to  its  future  welfare,  has  filled  the  Nation's  heart 


16  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

with  gloom.  In  the  midst  of  the  jubilant  and  excited 
feelings  of  a  grateful  people,  bound  to  him  with  dearer 
ties  than  ever  before  in  his  career,  his  connection  with 
them  has  been  suddenly  severed  by  the  violent  hands  of 
an  assassin.  The  fresh  joy  of  the  recent  glorious  victories 
of  our  armies,  securing,  we  trusted,  peace  and  prosperity 
to  a  reunited  country,  has  unexpectedly  been  turned  to 
mourning. 

The  shouts  of  an  exultant  people  are  hushed,  and  the 
stern  discipline  of  sorrow  is  once  more  to  test  their  char- 
acter and  to  prove  their  manhood.  Called  to  the  Chief 
Magistracy  of  the  nation  at  a  time  of  unexampled  trial, 
when  the  Union  of  our  fathers  was  threatened  with  dis- 
ruption by  degenerate  sons,  the  loyal  spirit  of  the  country 
responded  time  and  time  again  to  his  patriotic  appeals. 
His  talents  and  his  practical  virtues  seemed  to  develop  and 
strengthen  with  the  new  exigencies  which  called  for  their 
exercise ;  and  at  the  moment  when  success  was  crowning 
our  eiforts,  the  GREAT  LEADER  was  summoned  away,  and 
his  office  and  his  great  trusts  fall  upon  another. 

President  Lincoln's  career  will  ever  be  considered  as 
one  of  the  best  illustrations  of  the  character  and  nature  of 
Republican  institutions.  He  was  emphatically  a  man  of 
the  people.  Born  in  an  humble  condition,  he  was  never 
tempted  to  rise  by  a  sordid  ambition  for  place ;  but  yet  he 
was  ever  ready  to  meet  public  responsibilities,  when  the 
country  demanded  his  services.  His  merits  as  a  statesman 
and  patriot  have  been  tested  in  the  most  momentous  period 
in  the  history  of  the  Republic.  His  integrity  and  worth 
as  a  man  were  seldom  called  in  question  while  he  lived, 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    CITY    COUNCIL.  17 

and  now  that  he  has  gone,  his  memory  will  be  held  in 
blessed  remembrance  by  his  countrymen,  and  especially 
by  that  race  whose  shackles  of  slavery  were  broken  during 
his  administration,  and  who  will  cherish  his  name  as  that 
of  their  great  Liberator. 

He  has  conducted  us  safely  through  the  checkered 
career  of  the  greatest  civil  war  known  in  the  history  of 
the  world ;  and  at  the  time  of  his  decease  his  clear  and 
honest  intellect  wa  5  engaged  upon  those  great  and  difficult . 
problems  of  statesmanship  which,  after  such  a  conflict, 
appertain  to  a  condition  of  peace.  At  times  when  disas- 
ter befell  our  arms,  or  confusion  attended  our  councils, 
and  the  timid  were  disposed  to  give  up  in  despair,  his 
faith  never  wavered  in  the  final  success  of  the  cause,  — . 
new  difficulties  aroused  new  energies,  —  and,  relying  upon 
the  patriotism  of  the  people,  he  moved  on  with  a  resolute 
will,  in  the  work  which  Providence  had  placed  in  his 
hands  for  the  salvation  of  the  nation. 

The  great,  responsibilities  of  his  position,  he  bore  with 
complacency  and  good  humor.  His  physical  frame,  which 
was  developed  in  early  manhood,  fitted  him  for  the  unpar- 
alleled labors  of  his  public  trust;  and  his  tragic  death 
was  caused  by  that  fell  spirit  of  treason  and  disloyalty, 
which,  had  it  not  been  for  his  efforts,  might  likewise  have 
been  the  death  of  the  nation. 

The  Republic  has  lost  its  chief  officer  ;  —  every  patriot 
feels  that  he  has  lost  a  personal  friend.  We  finite  beings 
cannot  fathom  the  wisdom  of  the  great  calamity.  HE  that 
ruleth  over  the  nations  of  the  earth  must  be  our  abiding 
trust.  To  the  family  of  the  late  President,  our  heartfelt 
sympathies  and  condolence  should  be  tendered. 


18  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

In  common  with  the  whole  nation,  this  community  joins 
in  the  general  sorrow;  and  in  order  that  you  may  offi- 
cially take  that  public  notice  of  the  event  which  the 
occasion  demands,  I  have  called  the  members  of  the  City- 
Council  together  in  special  session. 

Your  wisdom  will  suggest  the  most  appropriate  manner 
for  the  city  of  Boston  to  honor  the  memory  of  the  distin- 
guished dead. 

F.   W.   LINCOLN,  JR.,  Mayor. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Mayor's  Address,  Alderman  George  W. 
Messinger,  Chairman  of  the  Board,  spoke  as  follows  :  — 

It  is  with  no  ordinary  emotions,  Mr.  Mayor,  that  I  rise 
to  offer  the  resolutions  pertinent  to  this  occasion.  The 
sudden  shock  which  our  entire  community  experienced  at 
the  reception  of  the  astounding  reports  from  Washington ; 
the  mingled  feelings  of  grief,  of  horror,  and  of  indigna- 
tion, have  scarcely  yet  subsided ;  the  repose  and  reflections 
incident  to  the  Sabbath  may  have  served  to  calm  and  tran- 
quillize, but  only  to  bring  forth  a  more  realizing  sense  of 
the  irreparable  loss  which  the  nation  has  sustained  by  the 
death  of  its  Chief  Magistrate. 

At  the  very  time  when  the  Kebellion  appears  subdued, 
when  the  days  of  battle  are  numbered  and  the  horrors  of 
war  are  to  give  way  to  the  blessings  of  peace,  when  the 
restoration  or  reconstruction  of  our  glorious  Union  is  so 
evident,  that  great  and  good  man,  at  the  head  of  our 
nation,  whose  sound  judgment  and  valuable  counsels  were 
so  much  relied  on,  is  stricken  down  by  the  hand  of  the 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    CITY    COUNCIL.  19 

assassin.  Without  further  comment,  I  now  submit  the 
preamble  and  resolutions  prepared  by  a  joint  committee 
of  the  City  Council :  — 

RESOLVES. 

Whereas,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  the  shadow  of  a 
great  grief  is  now  resting  on  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  sudden  death,  by  the  hand  of  violence,  of 
their  beloved  and  honored  Chief  Magistrate,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  now  officially  announced  to  the  City  Council  by 
His  Honor  the  Mayor,  therefore, 

Resolved,  1.  That  in  this  early  hour  of  the  Nation's 
bereavement  and  sorrow,  the  greatness  of  our  loss  cannot 
be  adequately  expressed  by  words,  but  is  evinced  by  the 
unspoken  and  unutterable  language  of  the  heart,  and  the 
tears  of  millions  of  our  loyal  countrymen,  telling  how 
truly  and  affectionately  he  who  was  from  the  people,  and 
loved  the  people,  was  loved  by  them. 

2.  That  we  devoutly  thank  God  for  the  noble  work 
our  loved  and  honored  President  was  permitted  to  do  for 
the  nation,  guiding  it  with  consummate  sagacity  and  skill 
through  the  most  difficult  epoch  of  its  existence ;  that  we 
recognize  especially  his  great  wisdom  and  foresight  in 
issuing  his  proclamation  of  Emancipation,  which  will  en- 
title him  to  the  gratitude  of  the  lovers  of  liberty  through- 
out the  world  in  all  future  ages,  and  give  him  a  place  in 
his  country's  fame  by  the  side  of  the  immortal  Washing- 
ton. 

3.  -That  we  accord  to  the  family  of  our  late  Chief 


20  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

Magistrate  our  heartfelt  and  tender  sympathy  in  their 
irreparable  loss,  assuring  them  that  we  cherish  as  one  of 
our  country's  priceless  legacies  the  memory  of  him  whom 
the  nation  mourns. 

4.  That  the  atrocious  attempt  to  take  the  life  of  our 
Secretary  of  State,  the  Hon.  William  H.  Sevvard,  and  the 
assaults  on  the  members  of  his  household,  have  excited  the 
liveliest  interest  for  his  preservation ;  and  we  trust  that 
his  life  may  long  be  spared,  and   his  valuable  counsels 
continue  to  benefit  his  country. 

5.  That  we  assure  President  Johnson  of  our  cordial 
support  in  the  great  task  devolved  upon  him  by  this  hor- 
rible   crime,  entreating  him  to  believe  that  the  nation, 
instructed  by  this  last  bitter  experience,  will  sustain  the 
Government   more   unitedly  than   ever   in  vigorous   and 
effective  measures  for  suppressing  a  wicked  and  unnatural 
Rebellion,  in  meting  out  justice  to  all  its  abettors,  and 
securing  the  amplest  guarantees  for  peace  in  all  coming 
time ;  trusting  that  he  will  not  pause  until  every  seed  of 
its  possible  life  is  destroyed,  and  our  whole  country  rests 
on  the  sure  basis  of  full  and  impartial  liberty. 

6.  That  as  a  proper  mark  of  respect,  Faneuil  Hall  and 
the  City  Hall  be  draped  in  mourning  for  the  period  of 
thirty  days,  and  that  on  the  day  of  the  funeral  ceremonies 
in  Washington,  His   Honor  the   Mayor  order  all  public 
offices,  schools  and  places  of  amusement,  to  be  closed,  and 
request  an  entire  suspension  of  business  on  the  part  of  our 
citizens. 

7.  That  a  delegation  from  the  city  government,  con- 
sisting of  His  Honor  Mayor  Lincoln,  two  Aldermen,  the 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    CITY    COUNCIL.  21 

President  and  three  members  of  the  Common  Council, 
attend  the  obsequies  of  the  late  President  of  the  United 
States. 

8.  That  a  eulogy  on  the  character  and   services  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  be  pronounced  before  the  city  govern- 
ment  at   an   early  day,  and  that  a  joint  committee  be 
appointed  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements. 

9.  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  heads  of  the  different 
departments  at  Washington,  and  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

The  passage  of  the  foregoing  resolutions  having  been  advocated 
by  Alderman  Nathaniel  C.  Nash,  with  some  appropriate  remarks, 
they  were  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Board,  each  member  rising 
in  his  place. 

The  Chair  having  appointed  Aldermen  John  S.  Tyler  and 
Charles  F.  Dana  as  a  Committee  in  behalf  of  this  Board  to  attend 
the  Funeral  Obsequies  in  Washington,  and  Aldermen  George  W. 
Messinger,  John  S.  Tyler,  and  Thomas  Gaffield  upon  the  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangement  for  an  Eulogy  on  the  deceased,  as  contem- 
plated in  the  eighth  resolve,  said  resolutions  were  sent  down  to  the 
Common  Council  for  concurrence,  and  the  Board  of  Aldermen  then 
adjourned. 

Attest : 

S.  F.  McCLEARY,  City  Cleric. 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    COMMON    COUNCIL. 

The  members  of  the  Common  Council  were  called  to  order  by 
their  President,  William  B.  Fowle,  Esq.,  who  addressed  them  as 
follows :  — 


22  MEMORIAL  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL  :  — 

Were  I  to  consult  my  own  feelings  upon  this  occasion, 
I  should  indulge  in  speechless  sorrow ;  but,  as  representa- 
tives of  our  fellow  citizens,  it  seems  proper  that  we  should 
place  upon  record  our  estimation  of  the  great  and  good 
man  whose  loss  the  nation  mourns. 

Words  are  but  feeble  instruments  to  express  deep  grief ; 
far  better  the  sympathizing  grasp  of  the  hand  and  the  eye 
glistening  with  the  involuntary  tear. 

We  respected  Abraham  Lincoln  as  the  chief  magistrate 
of  our  country,  and  as  such  alone  we  should  have  felt 
sorrow  at  his  death,  but  we  are  now  in  mourning  for  more 
than  the  loss  of  the  nation's  head. 

Our  country  needed  him.  The  marked  ability  with 
which  he  had  steadied  the  helm  through  the  long  night  of 
civil  war,  until  the  dayspring  of  peace  seemed  fairly  open- 
ing to  our  vision,  had  taught  us  to  look  to  him  as  the 
guiding  star  under  whose  benignant  auspices  all  troubles 
were  to  cease.  But  deeper  seated  than  even  this  is  our 
grief  to-day. 

He  was  cut  off  by  a  dastardly  act  in  the  midst  of  such 
usefulness  as  it  has  rarely  been  the  lot  of  man  to  experi- 
ence. We  lament  the  cruel  manner  of  his  death,  and  our 
grief  deepens  at  the  thought  that  for  us  and  in  our  service 
he  died.  But  even  this  does  not  sufficiently  account  for 
the  gloom  which  rests  upon  us. 

Beyond  the  magistrate  whose  ability  we  respected, 
beyond  the  victim  of  the  assassin  who  died  for  us,  and 
whose  untimely  fate  we  deplore,  beyond  the  loss  of  his 
services  at  a  time  when  they  were  so  sorely  needed,  we 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    CITY    COUNCIL.  23 

each  and  all  of  us  have  lost  a  dear  friend ;  a  great,  good, 
honest,  noble-hearted  friend,  whom  we  all  loved.  Our  love 
for  him  is  the  great  cause  of  our  heartfelt  grief. 

Upon  our  nation's  roll  of  honor,  side  by  side  with  that 
of  the  immortal  Washington,  let  us  place  the  name  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  let  us  pray  to  the  Supreme  "Ruler, 
that  the  exigencies  of  our  country  may  nevermore  need 
that  a  third  should  be  added  to  those  two 

"  immortal  names, 

That  were  not  born  to  die!  " 

The  message  of  the  Mayor  having  been  read,  the  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen  were  then  submitted  to  the 
Common  Council.  Their  passage  by  this  branch  of  the  City 
Council  was  advocated  by  Messrs.  Clement  Willis  of  Ward  8, 
Joseph  Story  of  Ward  5,  Benjamin  Dean  of  Ward  12,  and  Sol- 
omon B.  Stebbins  of  Ward  10,  who  spoke  most  earnestly  and  ap- 
propriately on  the  subject.  The  resolutions  were  then  passed 
unanimously  in  concurrence,  each  member  present  rising  in  his 
place. 

The  Chair  appointed  Messrs.  Solomon  B.  Stebbins  of  Ward  10, 
Benjamin  Dean  of  Ward  12,  and  Moses  W.  Richardson  of  Ward 
11,  delegates  on  behalf  of  the  Common  Council  to  attend  the 
funeral  obsequies  at  Washington.  And  the  President  of  the  Com- 
mon Council,  together  with  Messrs.  Joseph  Story  of  Ward  5,  John 
C.  Haynes  of  Ward  9,  Sumner  Crosby  of  Ward  12,  William  D. 
Park  of  Ward  7,  and  Solomon  B.  Stebbins  of  Ward  10,  were 
joined  to  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  the  proposed  eulogy 
on  the  illustrious  deceased. 

The  Common  Council  then  adjourned. 

Attest :  W.  P.  GREGG,  Clerk. 


MEETING  IN  FANEUIL  HALL. 


MEETING  H  FANEUIL  HALL. 


IN  accordance  with  a  request  from  His  Honor  the  Mayor,  the  cit- 
izens of  Boston  assembled  in  Faneuil  Hall  on  the  seventeenth  of 
April,  1865,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  for  the  purpose  of  unit- 
ing in  a  public  expression  of  their  sense  of  the  bereavement  which 
the  nation  had  sustained  in  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The 
hall  was  darkened  and  heavily  draped  with  emblems  of 'mourning. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  the  Mayor,  and  prayer  was 
offered  by  Rev.  S.  K.  Lothrop,  D.  D. 

His  Honor  Mayor  Lincoln  then  addressed  the  assembly  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

FELLOW  CITIZENS  :  On  the  morning  of  the  15th  of 
January  a  revered  and  distinguished  citizen,  then  engaged 
in  the  pursuits  of  private  life,  died  suddenly  at  his  resi- 
dence in  Boston.  As  the  news  of  the  sad  occurrence 
extended,  it  produced  a  profound  impression  over  the  whole 
country ;  and  the  President  of  the  United  States  immedi- 
ately took  notice  of  the  event  as  a  national  bereavement. 
On  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  April,  just  three  months 
after  the  decease  of  the  retired  statesman,  —  on  a  day  sol- 
emnly set  apart  by  a  portion  of  the  Christian  church  to 
commemorate  the  death  of  our  blessed  Lord,  —  the  Presi- 


28  MEMORIAL    OF   PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

dent  himself,  invested  with  all  the  cares  and  prerogatives 
of  official  station,  was  summoned  to  depart  this  life,  and 
to  join  the  vast  assembly  of  good  and  great  of  other  days. 
On  that  occasion  in  January,  this  venerable  hall  was 
arrayed  in  its  habiliments  of  woe ;  and  to-day,  again  put- 
ting on  its  emblems  of  mourning,  we  are  assembled  to 
condole  with  e.ach  other  in  this  new  grief,  and  to  take 
counsel  together  on  this  new  sorrow  which  has  fallen 
upon  our  country. 

The  last  time  the  citizens  of  Boston  assembled  within 
these  halls,  it  was  to  give  an  expression  of  the  exulting  joys 
of  a  happy  people  over  the  recent  victories  ;  to-day  we 
meet,  bowed  down  by  a  common  affliction,  seeking  com- 
fort and  consolation  from  each  other  in  that  depression 
of  spirits  which  every  heart  feels.  Yesterday  we  went  up 
to  our  several  houses  of  worship,  and  before  the  altars 
of  Almighty  God,  gathered  those  lessons  of  resignation 
for  ourselves,  and  that  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
Great  Disposer  of  events,  which  it  is  the  mission  of  our 
holy  religion  to  inspire.  To-day  we  meet  in  the  accus- 
tomed place  for  the  great  gatherings  of  the  people,  to 
pay  our  feeble  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  distinguished 
dead,  and  to  renew  our  vows  of  unfaltering  fidelity  to  our 
country  in  this  hour  of  its  extreme  peril. 

The  death  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation,  who 
has  been  set  apart  as  its  Ruler  by  the  free  suffrages  of  its 
citizens,  always  awakens  the  most  tender  sympathies  and 
the  profoundest  regrets  ;  how  much  more  so  in  the 
recent  crisis  of  our  national  affairs,  when  the  events  of 
the  last  four  years  are  so  fresh  in  our  remembrance. 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  29 

The  hand  that  guided  the  ship  of  state  through  the  perils 
of  the  past  we  fondly  trusted  would  remain  at  the  helm 
until  all  danger  was  over  and  gentle  breezes  wafted  its 
course  over  calmer  seas. 

We  knew  and  braced  ourselves  to  the  fact,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  unholy  Rebellion,  that  we  should  be 
called  upon  to  make  many  sacrifices  to  accomplish  its 
overthrow ;  but  little  did  we  think  that  one  so  costly  and 
dear  was  to  be  required  as  the  head  of  the  nation.  The 
fatal  shot,  which,  fired  by  an  assassin's  hand,  laid  low  the 
first  in  the  land,  was  aimed  at  the  happiness  of  the  whole 
people ;  and  we  shall  be  recreant  to  duty,  and  false  to  our 
high  responsibilities  if  we  fail  to  extirpate  the  disloyal 
spirit  which  prompted  it.  We  may  divide  and  form  par- 
ties on  minor  matters,  but  let  the  appalling  event  we 
deplore  unite  all  the  people  in  one  solid  phalanx  in  behalf 
of  those  principles*  of  humanity  and  equal  rights,  which 
our  fathers  enunciated  at  the  birth  of  the  nation,  and  which 
will  render  the  name  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  a  blessed  mem- 
ory through  many  generations. 

It  is  not  my  province,  fellow-citizens,  to  furnish  the 
fitting  words  which  will  give  an  expression  of  the  senti- 
ments of  this  assembly.  There  are  those  present  who 
will  speak  of  the  career  and  services  of  the  lamented 
dead,  and  of  the  exigencies  in  which  the  country  is  now 
placed.  My  duty  is  performed,  when,  in  consonance  with 
the  action  of  the  City  Council,  you  are  invited  to  partici- 
pate in  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting,  and  are  thus  able 
to  testify  in  an  official  form  to  the  world,  the  feelings  of 
the  citizens  of  Boston  on  the  most  solemn  and  memorable 
event  in  the  history  of  the  country. 


30  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Hon.  Peleg  W.  Chandler  was  then  introduced.     He  said  :  — 

It  is  about  ten  years  since  the  citizens  of  Boston  assem- 
bled at  this  place  to  express  their  opinion  upon  a  most 
outrageous  assault  on  a  senator  of  this  Commonwealth, 
who  was  nearly  murdered  at  his  seat  in  the  Capitol  of  the 
United  States.     I  had  the  honor  to  address  that  meeting, 
and  I  expressed  a  strong  conviction  that  this  brutal  conduct 
of  a  representative  from  South  Carolina  would  be  promptly 
disavowed  by  the  people  of  that  State, —  an  opinion  which 
prevailed  to  a  considerable  extent  at  that  time  in  this  com- 
munity.    So  far,  however,  from  the  prediction  proving 
true,  a  directly  opposite  and  most  lamentable  course  was 
taken.     And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  a  representative  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  from  one  of  the  oldest 
States  in  the  Union,  who  had  made  a  murderous  attack 
upon  the  senator  of  Massachusetts,  was  everywhere  re- 
ceived on  his  journey  home  by  a  perfect  ovation.      Public 
addresses  of  -congratulation,  private  letters  of  thanks,  the 
votes  of  assembled  citizens  poured  in  upon  him  a"s  the 
hero   of  the  hour  ;    he  was  re-elected  by  an  unanimous 
vote,  and  was  allowed  to  occupy,  until  his  death,  the  seat 
he  had  disgraced.  And  now,  Mr.  Mayor  and  fellow-citizens, 
we  are  assembled  in  Faneuil  Hall  to  consider  the  assassi- 
nation of  the  President  of   the  United  States,  and   the 
attempted  murder  of  the  Secretary  of   State,  under  cir- 
cumstances of  brutality,  cowardice,  and  cruelty,  that  have 
no  parallel. 

It  has  been  hinted  that  this  was  the  act  of  a  drunken 
fool  or  a  madman.     Perhaps  it  was.     But  drunken  fools 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL   HALL.  31 

and  crazy  fanatics  are  not  seldom  the  chosen  instruments 
of  those  who  act  in  darkness,  and  resort  to  murder  by 
assassination. 

I  do  not  charge  this  specific  act  upon  the  masses  at  the 
South ;  I  do  not  suppose  that  the  wicked  wretch  had  a 
written  order  in  his  pocket  from  Confederate  leaders.  But 
I  do  suppose,  I  do  believe,  that  this  transaction  is  the 
direct  result  of  the  method  of  these  leaders  in  their  en- 
deavor to  destroy  the  Union  ;  that  it  is  the  legitimate  fruit 
of  the  temper  in  which  they  have  carried  on  this  war  from 
the  first ;  that  it  is  an  external  manifestation  of  a  people 
half  civilized,  and  of  leaders  who  do  not  scruple  to  violate 
every  principle  of  honor  in  order  to  accomplish  their  ne- 
farious designs.  The  assassination  of  the  President  has 
been  publicly  threatened,  time  and  again.  Prisoners  of  war, 
taken  in  fair  and  open  fight,  have  been  stripped  of  their 
clothing  and  immured  in  prisons  filthy  beyond  description. 
Scores  of  brave  men  have  perished  by  slow  starvation, 
while  hundreds  and  thousands  have  returned  to  their 
homes  only  to  die  or  to  drag  out  a  wretched  existence  of 
premature  old  age.  A  man  was  hung  in  New  York  the 
other  day,  who  was  said  to  belong  to  a  wealthy  family  in 
Virginia,  himself  well  educated  after  their  style,  and  an 
officer  in  the  Confederate  army.  This  man  had  been  con- 
victed of  an  attempt  to  throw  a  railway  train  from  the 
track,  which  was  crowded  with  women  and  children. 

A  former  officer  in  the  Confederate  army  is  now  under 
sentence  of  death,  who,  with  companions  in  guilt,  under- 
took to  fire  most  of  the  hotels  in  a  large  city,  and  thus 
destroy  hundreds  and  perhaps  thousands  of  lives  of  inno- 


32  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

cent  people,  and  this  far  away  from  the  active  operations 
of  soldiers  in  the  field. 

When  have  these  crimes  been  disavowed  \  What  high 
and  magnanimous  Southern  officer  has  condemned  them, 
and  threatened  to  resign  if  they  were  approved  by  his 
superiors  ?  What  legislature  has  stamped  them  with  rep- 
robation ?  When  has  the  Rebel  Congress  disapproved  of 
them  ?  What  Southern  newspaper  has  denounced  them  I 

There  is  nothing  in  all  this  to  stir  up  feelings  of  revenge 
with  us.  Excited  passions  can  do  no  good.  But  we  have 
a  duty  to  perform,  and  the  consideration  of  these  transac- 
tions will  render  that  duty  less  difficult.  The  present 
condition  of  things  must  cease.  We  have  a  lesson  to  teach 
here,  and  the  pupils  must  learn  that  lesson.  We  must 
banish  from  the  land  every  relic  of  barbarism.  We  must 
colonize  the  country  with  respectable  men.  We  must 
organize  school-districts  and  build  schoolhouses,  and  send 
schoolmasters,  and  spelling  books,  and  the  New  England 
Primer,  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  Bibles.  We 
must,  if  necessary,  withdraw  the  missionaries  from  Turkey 
and  Asia  Minor,  India,  and  the  Islands  of  the  ^Egean  Sea, 
and  employ  them  nearer  home.  We  will  thus  possess  and 
elevate  this  people,  to  the  end  that  life  may  be  safe,  liberty 
secured,  property  protected,  and  the  Christian  religion 
maintained  in  its  purity. 

Mr.  Chandler  then  offered  the  following 
RESOLUTIONS. 

The  citizens  of  Boston,  in  Faneuil  Hall  assembled,  desire 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  33 

to  bow  in  humble  and  trusting  submission  to  the  Divine 
Providence  by  whose  permission  our  beloved  and  honored 
Chief  Magistrate  has  been  violently  removed  from  the 
scene  of  his  earthly  labors  ;  and  they  earnestly  pray  for 
the  ability  to  restrain  all  feelings  of  revenge,  —  "  for  it  is 
written,  Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay,  saith  the  Lord" 

Resolved,  That  the  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  one 
of  the  richest  gifts  ever  bestowed  upon  a  free  people.  An 
enlightened  statesman  whose  highest  ambition  was  the 
happiness  of  his  country,  —  a  firm  magistrate  who  knew 
how  to  temper  justice  with  mercy,  —  a  wise  ruler  who 
listened  to  the  counsels  of  others,  but  always  acted  upon 
his  own  convictions  of  duty,  —  he  stands  to-day,  in  the 
affection  of  all  loyal  citizens,  not  second  to  Washington 
himself. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  the  family  of  the  deceased 
our  earnest  sympathy  in  the  death  of  a  husband  and  father 
whose  kindness  of  heart,  purity  of  intention,  gentleness, 
firmness,  "and  sincerity  are  familiar  as  household  words  to 
this  whole  people. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  do  not  attribute  to  the  mass  of 
Rebel  citizens  any  complicity  with  a  crime  so  enormous  as 
the  one  we  now  deplore,  we  are  firmly  convinced  that  it  is 
the  direct  result  of  the  principles  inculcated  by  their 
leaders  and  a  state  of  society  that  is  utterly  opposed  to 
the  doctrines  of  enlightened  morality  and  inconsistent  with 
the  pure  precepts  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  holding 
of  human  beings  in  brutal  ignorance  and  hopeless  slavery, 
the  unprovoked  resort  to  an  armed  resistance  to  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws  of  the  country,  the  deliberate  starving 


34  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

of  prisoners  taken  in  war,  the  concerted  attempt  to  burn 
the  hotels  of  a  large  city,  filled  with  women  and  children, 
the  brutal  assault  upon  a  senator  at  his  seat  in  the  Capitol, 
and  finally  the  assassination  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of 
the  country,  and  the  attempted  murder  of  the  principal 
executive  officer,  with  every  circumstance  of  cowardice  and 
atrocity,  are  so  many  kindred  evidences  of  a  state  of  ignor- 
ance, brutality,  and  wickedness  which  have  no  parallel  in 
the  history  of  a  civilized  'people. 

Resolved,  That  we  now  and  here  avow  our  determina- 
tion, on  this  solemn  occasion,  to  preserve  the  Union  of  our 
fathers,  to  maintain  the  Constitution  of  these  United  States, 
to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  country,  to  remove  every  vestige 
of  barbarism  from  our  borders,  —  to  the  end  that  universal 
freedom,  enlightened  civilization,  pure  morality,  and  the 
sublime  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  may  every- 
where prevail ;  and  to  this  we  do  here,  in  this  temple  of 
liberty  where  our  fathers  for  generations  have  assembled, 
pledge  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  -honor,  in- 
voking the  aid  and  guidance  of  Him  in  whose  hands  are 
the  destinies  of  nations. 

Hon.  Charles  G.  Loring  spoke  as  follows :  — 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  You  can  suspect  no  one  of  assuming, 
uninvited,  the  responsibility  of  addressing  you  upon  this 
sad  and  solemn  occasion,  nor  could  you  hold  otherwise 
than  in  light  esteem  any  one  who  would  shrink  from 
obedience  to  the  call  to  take  part  in  these  solemnities. 

It  is  indeed  good  for  us  to  be  here.     We  should  derive 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  35 

comfort  and  strength,  in  this  hour  of  deep  affliction,  by 
thus  meeting  together,  though  no  words  were  uttered,  and 
we  only  stood  side  by  side  with  bowed  heads  and  full 
hearts  in  consciousness  of  the  sympathy  which  unites  us 
to-day  as  one  stricken  family  of  mourners.  But  a  few 
simple  words  may  be  ventured  expressive  of  our  grief,  — a 
few  words  of  counsel  and  resolve  in  view  of  the  appalling 
event  which  has  summoned  us  here. 

A  brief  time  only  has  elapsed  since  we  assembled  in 
this  place  to  lay  our  tribute  of  love  and  grateful  remem- 
brance upon  the  bier  of  a  scholar,  an  orator,  and  a  states- 
man, upon  whom  we  had  been  accustomed  to  lean  for 
guidance  and  support  in  the  dark  hours  of  our  country's 
peril.  Oh !  that  he  were  now  here  with  his  matchless 
eloquence  to  thrill  our  hearts  and  move  our  souls  as  none 
but  he  could  do. 

Not  many  days  afterwards  your  willing  footsteps  sought 
this  consecrated  hall  in  jubilee  and  congratulation  upon 
our  national  triumphs,  —  and  these  walls  rocked  with  the 
thunders  of  your  applause  at  every  mention  of  the  name 
of  the  then  loved  and  revered  head  of  the  nation. 

To-day  that  head  is  laid  low  in  the  dust,  —  and  a  nation's 
exultation  and  joy  are  turned  into  the  profoundest  sorrow 
and  apprehension.  The  father  of  his  country  is  stricken 
down,  —  the  Minister  of  State,  who  has  conducted  the 
foreign  diplomacy  of  the  nation  with  such  unrivalled  skill 
and  lofty  patriotism,  has  been  laid  low,  perhaps  never  to 
rise  again,  —  both  have  fallen  by  the  hands  of  rebel  assas- 
sins, —  one  in  the  place  of  the  public  assembly,  and  the 
other  in  the  privacy  of  his  sick-chamber,  and  perhaps  then 


36  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

on  his  dying  bed.  The  nation  stands  aghast  at  the  unex- 
ampled atrocity  of  the  crime ;  the  civilized  world  will 
tremble  and  grow  pale  as  it  listens  to  the  story.  A  blow 
has  been  stricken  upon  law,  humanity,  civilization,  and 
every  sacred  sentiment  of  the  human  heart,  which  causes 
the  whole  moral  world  to  tremble  to  its  foundations. 

It  is  in  the  midst  of  this  tumultuous  emotion,  my  friends, 
when  every  one  is  asking  of  each  other,  what  shall  we  say, 
or  what  shall  we  do,  —  what  are  to  be  the  consequences  of 
these  stupendous  atrocities,  —  what  do  they  teach,  and  what 
responsibilities  do  they  involve,  —  that  we  are  assembled  in 
this  venerated  hall,  so  redolent  of  profound  humanity,  obe- 
dience to  the  law,  and  self-sacrificing  patriotism,  to  give 
vent  to  our  grief  and  take  counsel  together  upon  our 
duties. 

When  the  first  shock  given  by  the  ghastly  news  was 
over,  and  the  mind  recovered  from  the  paralysis  it  had 
caused,  the  immediate  emotion  in  all  hearts  was  that  of 
poignant  grief  as  for  the  death  of  one  personally  beloved. 
Connected  as  we  felt  ourselves  to  be  with  Abraham  Lin- 
coln as  the  head  of  our  national  family,  —  accustomed  as 
we  were  to  the  displays  of  his  cheerful,  genial,  generous, 
humane,  and  loving  nature  amid  the  bewildering  perplex- 
ities and  embarrassments,  the  boundless  responsibilities 
and  vexing  cares  of  his  official  life ;  to  his  magnanimity, 
forbearance,  and  self-forgetfulness  amid  the  cruel  slanders 
and  persecutions  heaped  upon  him  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  we  felt,  each  cf  us  could  not  but  feel,  that  his 
death,  besides  being  a  calamity  to  the  nation  and  the  world, 
was  to  us  in  the  nature  of  a  domestic  loss,  touching  the 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  37 

finest  and  tenderest  chords  of  our  hearts.  It  is  surely 
hazarding  nothing  to  assert  that  no  head  of  a  great  nation 
was  ever  so  tenderly  and  heartily  loved  as  was  Abraham 
Lincoln  by  the  great  bulk  of  the  American  people.  That 
love  is  to-day  more  vehement  and  active  than  ever  before, 
and  will  long  continue  a  vital  agent  of  terrible  energy  in 
completing  the  great  work  for  devotion  to  which  he  was 
sacrificed.  Let  no  man  be  ashamed  that  he  shed  tears 
upon  news  of  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  •  It 
were  far  better  to  be  accounted  among  those  who  did  so 
than  among  those  who  had  none  to  shed  on  Saturday 
morning. 

It  is,  however,  the  consciousness  of  the  seemingly  irre- 
parable loss  to  our  country,  in  this  removal  of  her  trusted 
ruler  and  guide,  that  sinks  deeper  in  our  hearts,  awakens 
our  most  painful  solicitude,  and  casts'  the  darkest  shadow 
upon  our  future. 

If  there  be  anything  marvellous  in  personal  history,  — 
if  there  be  anything  in  the  history  of  nations  betokening 
Divine  intervention  in  the  appointment  of  their  rulers,  — 
if  it  be  manifest  that  an  especial  Providence  raised  up 
George  Washington  to  be  the  founder  of  the  Union  and 
the  father  of  his  country,  —  I  hold  it  to  be  no  less  mar- 
vellous and  a  no  less  signal  proof  of  such  interposition, 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  appointed  to  be  the  ruler  and 
guide  of  this  nation  through  the  perils  of  this  gigantic 
Rebellion ;  to  be  the  father  of  his  country  in  her  new  birth 
to  a  Union  founded  on  still  broader  principles  of  law, 
freedom,  and  humanity,  —  that  she  may  henceforth  take 
her  place  among  the  chief  of  nations  with  no  blot  upon 


38  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

her  pure  escutcheon,  and  no  stain  upon  her  name  as 
indeed  "  the  land  of  the  brave  and  the  home  of  the  free." 

The  reckless  wish  has  sometimes  been  uttered,  and  in 
the  darker  hours  of  the  struggle  perhaps  not  unfre- 
quently,  that  we  had  some  leader  of  transcendent  genius 
or  influence  at  the  head  of  the  nation  to  guide  its  counsels 
and  lead  its  armies,  —  a  Caesar,  a  Cromwell,  or  a  Napo- 
leon. 

But  nothing  could  have  been  more  fatal,  if  not  to  our 
present  success,  at  least  to  our  permanent  safety,  than  the 
granting  of  any  such  wish.  Our  Government,  my  friends, 
from  its  very  nature,  must  depend  upon  the  people,  and 
upon  them  alone.  If  they  are  not  willing  nor  able  to  sus- 
tain it,  and  assert  its  just  authority,  it  has  failed,  it  has 
become  worthless  ;  and  the  sooner  it  passes  into  the  hands 
of  a  wise  or  generous  despot  the  better.  The  moment  the 
salvation  of  a  republic  rests  upon  the  genius,  power,  influ- 
ence, or  life  of  any  individual  or  number  of  individuals  in 
authority,  that  moment  its  days  are  numbered,  its  sub- 
stance has  vanished.  It  is  the  crowning  glory  of  the 
American  people  at  this  hour,  that,  in  this  desperate 
struggle  for  national  life,  amid  reverses  that  at  times 
seemed  overwhelming,  and  financial  perils  that  might 
well  daunt  the  stoutest  statesman,  and  without  a  leader  of 
marked  genius  in  council  or  in  the  field,  unless  recent 
events  have  revealed  them,  the  people  have  carried  on 
this  great  war  with  unflinching  courage  and  persistent 
energy,  and  with  voluntary  sacrifices  of  blood  and  treas- 
ure, —  such  as  no  mere  governmental  authority  could 
have  exacted,  nor  any  military  chieftain,  however  feared 
or  admired,  could  have  induced. 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL   HALL.  39 

It  is  this,  fellow-citizens,  that  makes  our  progress  safe 
hitherto,  and  our  future  certain.  The  people  have  willed 
that  the  national  life  shall  be  sustained,  that  law  and  free- 
dom shall  bless  the  land,  and  the  flag  of  the  Union  shall 
wave,  as  before,  over  it  from  the  Canadas  to  the  Gulf,  and 
from  ocean  to  ocean.  They  know  and  feel  that  they  are 
competent  to  the  task ;  and  the  result  depends  not,  and 
cannot  be  made  to  depend,  upon  the  life  or  lives,  or  the 
power  or  influence,  of  any  man  or  set  of  men,  however 
individually  great. 

And  it  is  exactly  here  that  we  find  the  great  funda- 
mental element  in  the  character  of  our  beloved  President, 
that  so  peculiarly  qualified  him  for  the  Chief  Magistracy 
of  the  Union  in  this  hour  of  its  extremity.  He  was  in 
the  broadest,  truest,  deepest,  and  noblest  sense,  a  man  of 
the  people,  —  the  incarnation  of  republican  principle  and 
sentiment.  His  whole  mental  and  spiritual  structure 
were  steeped  in  the  faith  that  with  us,  government  is  from 
the  people,  to  be  exercised  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people.  If  you  trace  him  from  his  earliest  speeches,  by 
all  that  he  has  written  and  spoken  from  the  time  he  left 
his  home  in  Illinois  to  take  upon  himself  his  august  ofiice, 
down  to  his  sublime  address  at  Gettysburg,  you  will  find 
this  to  be  the  pervading  spirit  and  fundamental  principle 
of  them  all.  He  everywhere  recognizes  the  source  whence 
all  authority  in  this  country  is  derived,  the  influences  that 
should  control  its  exercise,  the  responsibility  it  involves  to 
the  people  and  the  responsibility  which  it  imposes  upon 
them.  His  whole  official  life  may  challenge  proof  of  one 
instance  of  the  abuse  of  authority  for  any  selfish  purpose, 


40  MEMORIAL    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

or  the  assumption  of  any,  which  we  did  not  conscientiously 
believe  justified  by  the  law  under  the  necessities  of  the 
case,  and  for  the  safety  of  the  people  whose  security  was 
placed  in  his  keeping.  Of  all  the  atrocious  calumnies 
which  ever  stained  the  blackest  page  of  political  ribaldry, 
the  charges  against  this  great  and  good  man,  of  intentional 
usurpation  of  unlawful  authority,  of  seeking  to  tyrannize 
over  his  fellow-citizens,  or  of  abusing  his  high  trust  for 
any  selfish  purpose,  will  hereafter  be  regarded  with  in- 
credulity and  indignation  until  they  have  sunk  with  their 
authors  into  contempt  and  forgetfulness. 

•  Another  and  no  less  important  element  in  the  character 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  his  personal  integrity,  so  universally 
acknowledged  and  so  characteristic  of  his  whole  life,  as  to 
have  given  him  a  title  familiar  to  us  all,  homely  indeed, 
but  one  which  any  family  might  be  proud  to  retain  as  a 
patent  of  American  nobility.  Nor  were  his  sturdiness  of 
purpose,  his  perfect  sincerity  and  manly  frankness  less 
conspicuous,  all  winning  a  measure  of  confidence  and  love 
vouchsafed  to  few  men  on  earth,  —  and  of  the  value  of 
which  in  high  places,  we,  my  friends,  too  often  seem 
strangely  ignorant  or  forgetful. 

But  perhaps  the  talent  which  most  particularly  distin- 
guished Mr.  Lincoln,  and  qualified  him  so  preeminently 
for  his  high  office  as  the  head  of  a  popular  government  in 
times  of  such  perilous  perplexities  and  embarrassments, 
and  to  be  the  leader  and  guide  in  the  great  organic  change 
which  it  was  destined  to  undergo,  was  his  profound,  un- 
obtrusive, and  quietly  exercised  sagacity. 

No  one  can  have  watched  the  quickness  of  perception, 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  41 

profound  good  sense  and  ingenuous  simplicity  with  which 
he  has  dealt  with  the  numerous  embarrassing  questions 
which  have  arisen  during  his  administration,  as  shown  in 
his  official  papers,  correspondence,  and  reported  conversa- 
tions, without  admiration  and  delight.  Nor  can  any  one, 
it  is  believed,  contemplate  the  tact,  the  far-reaching  fore- 
sight, the  broad  statesmanship  and  prophetic  wisdom 
evinced  in  his  management  of  the  seemingly  ^insoluble 
problem  of  Slavery,  and  his  gradual  preparation  of  the 
public  mind  for  its  final  stupendous  solution,. without  a 
feeling  akin  to  awe,  as  if  they  could  only  be  the  result  of 
a  Divine  inspiration.  With  perfect  comprehension  of  the 
principles  of  the  Constitution,  the  determination  to  make 
them  the  rule  of  his  administration,  a  marvellous  insight 
into  the  moral  forces  pervading  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
the  people,  a  religious  observer  of  the  indications  of  Prov- 
idential design,  he  did  not  seek  to  be  accounted  a  prophet, 
but  stood  calmly  a  waiter  upon  events  as  manifestations  of 
the  inevitable  results  to  which  all  were  tending,  in  order 
to  use  them  aright  as  means  of  accomplishing  the  salvation 
of  his  country. 

No  sketch  of  the  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  however 
superficial,  could  be  attempted  without  recognition  of  his 
simple,  fervent,  unostentatious  piety,  breathing  alike  in 
every  important  public  document  and  throughout  his  cor- 
respondence and  speeches  to  the  last  day  of  his  life.  He 
seemed  to  live  and  act  under  a  pervading  sense  of  the  pres- 
ence and  providence  of  God;  and  in  this  doubtless  he 
found  much  of  the  strength  that  preserved  him  so  calm 
and  firm,  and  even  cheerful,  in  the  terrific  storms  through 


42  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

which  he  was  called  upon  to  pilot  the  State.  No  one  can 
read  his  parting  remarks  to  his  friends  in  Illinois,  when 
first  taking  leave  of  them,  his  exquisite  speech  at  Gettys- 
burg, than  which  nothing  more  grand  or  beautiful  has 
fallen  from  the  lips  of  man  in  this  generation,  or  his 
sublime  address  at  his  second  inauguration,  which,  although 
sneered  at  by  some  ignoble  critics  at  home,  has  brought 
upon  their  knees  even  the  London  Times  and  Saturday 
Review,  and  been  pronounced  by  high  authority  in  England 
"  a  state  paper,  which,  for  political  weight,  moral  dignity, 
and  unaffected  solemnity,  has  had  no  equal  in  our  time," 
without  the  conviction  that  he  was  indeed  a  God-fearing 
and  a  God-trusting  man.  In  the  language,  as  it  is  believed, 
of  one  of  the  most  eminent  authors  in  England,  we  may 
well  say :  "  When  the  heats  of  party  passion  and  interna- 
tional jealousy  have  abated,  when  detraction  has  spent  its 
malice  and  the  scandalous  gossip  of  the  day  goes  the  way 
of  all  lies,  the  place  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the  grateful 
affections  of  his  countrymen,  and  in  the  respect  of  the 
world,  will  be  second  only,  if  it  be  second,  to  that  of 
Washington  himself." 

These  words  were  written  while  he  was  yet  living,  the 
revered  and  beloved  ruler  of  our  people.  But  the  hand  of 
the  assassin  has  stricken  him  down  and  "  the  places  that 
once  knew  him  shall  know  him  no  more  forever."  The 
parricides  have  murdered  the  father  of  their  country  as 
well  as  of  ours,  for  his  generous  and  loving  heart  embraced 
them  as  well  as  us  in  its  longings  for  friendly  and  fraternal 
restoration  to  the  blessings  of  a  common  country.  They 
have  laid  low  the  hand  that  was  outstretched  for  their 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  43 

protection  from  the  vengeance  of  an  outraged  nation  ;  they 
have  slaughtered  their  best  friend ;  and  woe,  woe  to  them, 
more  than  to  us,  will  be  the  consequence  of  this  atrocious 
murder. 

But  we  must  turn  from  this  sad  but  interesting  them 3  to 
ask  ourselves  for  the  interpretation  of  this  seemingly  hor- 
rible dream,  from  which  we  are  yet  but  half  awakened 
Why  has  this  terrible  sin  been  suffered  to  be  committed  \ 
How  is  it  that  the  kind  providence  of  God,  which  we  have 
so  exultingly,and  I  trust  reverentially,  claimed  as  manifested 
thus  far  in  our  behalf,  thus  apparently  withdrawn  its  pro- 
tection, suffered  our  beloved  leader  to  be  stricken  dovvn 
and  our  joy  to  be  turned  into  mourning  \  —  our  exultant 
hopes  into  sadness  and  apprehension? 

It  would  indeed  be  presumptuous  in  us  to  attempt  to 
scan  or  to  portray  the  designs  of  God  in  such  an  event  as 
this.  All  that  we  may  do  is  humbly  to  trust  that  He 
ordains  all  things  for  the  best  to  those  who  seek  the  knowl- 
edge of  His  will,  and  to  lay  to  heart  the  lesson  He  is  thus 
teaching  as  it  addresses  itself  to  our  consciences  and  our 
understanding. 

As  there  seems  to  be  no  pretence  that  the  assassins  were 
instigated  by  any  sense  of  personal  wrong  to  themselves  in- 
dividually, committed  by  their  victims  ;  and  as  the  attempted 
destruction  of  life  was  not  confined  to  the  President  alone, 
but  extended  to  the  Minister  of  State,  holding  the  next 
most  important  office  in  the  nation,  and  whose  services 
in  this  juncture  are  of  peculiar  moment ;  and  there  is  good 
cause  to  believe  was  also  designed  to  embrace  the  Minister 
of  War,  holding  the  keys  of  the  military  resources  of  the 


44  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

nation,  and  other  offices  of  state,  there  can  be  no  reason- 
able doubt  that  these  crimes  were  the  fruits  of  a  conspiracy 
for  the  breaking  up  or  crippling  of  the  Government,  with  a 
view  to  save  the  sinking  fortunes  of  the  Rebels,  by  giving 
them  time  for  rallying  their  scattered  forces  and  reviving 
their  fainting  courage,  or  for  the  deadly  purpose  of  wreak- 
ing a  fiendish  revenge  for  the  overthrow  which  they  have 
sustained. 

Where  this  conspiracy  originated,  and  how  far  it  ex- 
tended; whether  it  was  in  pursuance  of  a  plan  concerted 
by  the  Rebel  leaders,  or  under  their  auspices,  or  whether 
it  was  confined  to  a  few  desperate  men  only,  is  not  and 
perhaps  never  may  be  satisfactorily  ascertained.  Nor,  so 
far  as  our  future  safety  or  duty  is  concerned,  is  it  material. 

Unhappily  for  them,  the  whole  course  of  conduct  of  the 
instigators  and  leaders  of  this  Rebellion  has  been  notori- 
ously  such  as  to  render  their  participation  or  connivance 
in  a  crime  like  this  neither  impossible  nor  incredible.  It 
is  of  hardly  less,  if  any  inferior  atrocity,  though  of  more 
dramatic  conspicuousness,  than  many  others  of  which  they 
have  been  guilty.  The  whole  tone  of  public  sentiment 
with  which  they  have  long  and  systematically  labored,  by 
every  species  of  falsehood  and  malignity,  to  poison  and 
embitter  the  heart  of  the  South  against  the  North;  the 
rewards  offered  in  their  public  prints  for  the  heads  of 
Union  officers ;  the  atrocious  threats  and  anathemas  which 
they  have,4  in  public  and  in  private,  poured  out  upon  the 
heads  of  our  soldiers  and  people ;  the  no  longer  question- 
able, deliberate,  and  fiendish  destruction  of  the  lives  of 
thousands,  and  tens  of  thousands,  of  our  brethren,  their 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL   HALL.  45 

prisoners  of  war,  by  lingering  deaths  from  cold  and  star- 
vation ;  the  almost  universal  cruelty  with  which  others  were 
killed,  maimed,  or  insulted,  and  even  by  women  accounting 
themselves  ladies  ;  all  too  plainly  indicate  a  deadly  rancor 
and  hatred  nursed  and  encouraged  towards  the  people  of 
the  North,  of  which  this  crime  is  nothing  more  than 
the  natural  fruit,  and  for  which  these  instigators  and 
leaders  are  justly  accountable.  It  is  but  the  natural  cul- 
mination of  the  ferocity  against  the  North  so  long  culti- 
vated as  a  Southern  virtue. 

It  may  be  that  this  lesson  was  needed,  more  fully  to 
impress  upon  us  and  the  world  the  true  character  of  this 
Rebellion,  its  inherent  atrocity  and  the  necessity  for  the 
further  continuance  of  our  utmost  energy  and  caution  in 
its  entire  suppression  until  every  vestige  of  future  danger 
shall  have  been  removed.  It  may  be  that,  bewildered  by 
the  magnitude  of  the  Rebellion,  extending  over  so  vast  an 
area,  and  infecting  such  large  numbers  of  men,  and  daz- 
zled by  the  valor  and  persistency  with  which  they  have 
attempted  to  maintain  their  cause,  or  lulled  by  the  syren 
song  of  returning  peace  and  commercial  prosperity,  we 
were  becoming  blind  to  the  enormity  of  the  crime ;  that  a 
weak  sentimentality  was  taking  place  of  our  manly  percep- 
tion of  the  right,  and  our  resolution  to  maintain  it ;  that 
there  was  danger  that  the  old  party  associations  and  affilia- 
tions between  Northern  and  Southern  politicians  might  be 
again  revived  to  enable  the  South  to  recover  its  ancient 
sway  over  the  land,  and  allow  its  former  leaders  to  resume 
their  places  in  the  halls  of  Congress. 

It  may  be  that  the  perfidy  of  the  authors  and  plotters 


46  MEMORIAL    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

of  the  Rebellion,  in  planning  and  preparing  for  its  accom- 
plishment, while  holding  posts  of  honor  and  trust  under 
the  Government,  which  they  intended  to  destroy ;  that  the 
stealing  of  fortresses  and  arms  and  ammunition  held  in 
trust  for  its  use  ;    the  memorable  bloody  assault  in  the 
Senate  chamber,  on  the  perpetrator  of  which  civic  honors 
and  splendid  gifts  and  the  approving  smiles  of  fair  women 
were  showered  without  number,  —  a  just  type,  indeed,  of 
this  then  incipient  crime ;    the  bayoneting  of  wounded 
soldiers  on  the  field  of  battle ;  the  conversion  of  skulls  of 
those  killed  into  drinking-cups  and  their  bones  into  arm- 
lets and  necklaces  ;  the  robbery  of  prisoners  of  their  only 
clothing ;  the  raids  and  murders  upon  private  citizens  ; 
the.  setting  on  fire  of  hotels  and  places  of  public  amuse- 
ment filled  with  women  and  children  in  crowded  cities ; 
the  deliberate,  fiendish  murder  of  tens  of  thousands  of 
prisoners  of  war  by  lingering  deaths  from  cold  and  starva- 
tion —  it  may  be  that  all  these  were  not  enough  to  excite 
in  us  and  foreign  nations  a  due  sense  of  the  terrible  enor- 
mities of  this  Rebellion  in  its  origin  and  prosecution,  but 
that  the  dreadful  climax  of  cold-blooded  assassination  was 
needed  to  complete  its  crowning  atrocity  and  shame,  and 
to  make  it  stand  out  before  the  world  and  go  down  to  his- 
tory with  this  further  dread  stamp   of  infamy  branded 
upon  its  forehead. 

Perhaps  the  noble  aristocracy  of  England,  who  have  so 
readily  joined  hands  with  the  bastard  aristocracy  of  the 
South,  founded  upon  traific  in  human  flesh,  may  recoil  a 
little  now  that  the  hands  of  their  chosen  allies  are  clotted 
with  the  blood  of  the  assassin's  victim,  as  well  as  with  that 


MEETING   IN    FANEUIL   HALL.  47 

of  the  slave.  And  the  puissant  Emperor  of  the  French, 
who  so  adroitly  attempted  to  embarrass  our  Government 
and  encourage  the  Rebellion  by  his  new  Mexican  empire, 
and  who  has  had  impressive  experience,  may,  perhaps, 
feel  a  little  fluttering  at  the  heart,  when  he  reflects  that  his 
American  allies  are  not  Eebels  only,  but  assassins  also. 

It  is  to  be  hoped,  and  we  will  believe  so  long  as  we 
may,  that  the  great  mass  of  the  Southern  people  will  look 
upon  this  stupendous  crime  with  horror  and  detestation ; 
and  that  it  may  awaken  many  of  them  to  a  sense  of  the 
hideous  nature  of  the  Rebellion  and  its  inevitable  tenden- 
cies. To  all  such,  who  may  be  disposed  to  return  to  their 
allegiance  to  the  Government  in  sincerity  and  good  faith, 
we  should  stand  ready  with  open  arms  to  receive  them ; 
but  to  the  plotters  and  instigators  of  this  foul  treason,  and 
its  chief  managers  and  leaders,  no  such  return  should  be 
permitted.  Their  extermination  by  death  or  exile  is  the 
only  atonement  that  can  be  made  for  the .  oceans  of  pre- 
cious blood  with  which  they  have  deluged  the  land  and 
desolated  our  homes ;  the  only  reasonable  vindication  of 
the  majesty  of  the  laws  they  have  violated,  and  of  the 
authority  they  have  defied. 

The  right  of  military  occupation  of  the  territories  of 
the  Rebel  States,  until  the  inhabitants  shall  have  been  en- 
tirely subdued  and  brought  into  submission  to  the  authority 
of  the  Government  of  the  Union,  is  unquestionable.  That 
right  will  not  cease  upon  the  mere  laying  down  of  arms  and 
professions  of  allegiance.  It  will  continue  so  long  as 
there  is  reason  to  apprehend  danger  of  renewed  revolt,  or 
resistance  of  the  law,  or  violation  of  the  peace  or  rights  of 


48  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

loyal  citizens,  to  whose  safety  such  occupation  is  essential. 
And  of  the  necessity  of  its  continuance  the  Government  is 
the  sole  and  exclusive  legal  judge.  Whenever,  then,  such 
allegiance  shall  be  honestly  declared  and  faithfully  adhered 
to  by  the  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants,  let  them  be  re- 
stored as  an  organized  State  under  the  Constitution,  visit- 
ing with  condign  punishment  those  disposed  to  disturb  its 
peace  or  withhold  such  allegiance.  But  whenever  the 
people  submit,  only  because  they  must,  to  superior  force, 
and  retain  their  sullen  hatred  of  the  people  and  govern- 
ment of  the  loyal  States,  and  their  disposition  to  evade  or 
resist  its  lawful  authority,  then  let  no  such  restoration  take 
place,  —  and  if  they  elect  extermination  by  exile  or  death 
rather  than  faithful  allegiance,  then  let  that  extermination 
come,  and  let  the  blood  be  upon  their  own  heads.  Our 
first,  our  most  solemn  and  imperative  duty  to  ourselves,  to 
our  posterity,  and  to  the  civilized  world,  is  to  restore  the 
authority  of  the  Union  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land  originally  under  its  sway.  And  here  to-day, 
upon  the  altar  of  our  country,  now  freshly  weeping  with 
the  blood  of  its  last  and  chief  martyr,  let  us  unitedly  and 
fervently  pledge  ourselves,  that  we  will  expend  the  last 
dollar  of  our  means,  and  coin  our  heart's  blood  if  need 
be,  to  fulfil  this  duty  and  accomplish  this  great  salvation. 

Fellow-citizens :  One  of  the  grandest,  if  not  the  sub- 
limest,  of  the  manifestations  of  the  character  of  our  peo- 
ple, in  the  vicissitudes  of  this  terrible  conflict,  has  been  the 
religious  faith  which  they  have  manifested  alike  in  its  suc- 
cesses and  its  reverses.  Indeed,  it  seems  hardly  possible, 
in  contemplation  of  the  wonderful  course  of  events,  all, 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  49 

however  seemingly  adverse  some  may  have  for  a  time  ap- 
peared, working  together  to  produce  the  grand  result,  in 
the  near  approach  of  which  we  now  rejoice,  —  and  in 
view  of  the  final  solution  of  that  dread  problem  of  human 
slavery  which  had  so  long  baffled  the  wisdom  of  the 
wisest,  and  seemed  hopeless  even  in  the  eyes  of  Christian 
faith,  —  it  seems,  I  say,  hardly  possible  to  doubt  the  imme- 
diate hand  of  God,  «,s  guiding  us  through  this  wilderness 
of  crime  and  suffering.  May  we  not  hope  that  the  fervent 
faith  of  our  fathers  has  descended,  with  their  love  of  free- 
dom and  energy  of  character,  to  their  children,  and  that 
we  may  manifest  ourselves  to  be,  as  they  were,  a  God- 
trusting  and  God-abiding  people  I  God  has  permitted  his 
chosen  servant,  after  fulfilment  of  the  glorious  mission  on 
which  he  was  sent,  to  depart  without  lingering  pain,  in  the 
zenith  of  his  fame,  amidst  the  affections  of  a  grateful  peo- 
ple, and  with  the  tears  of  a  great  nation  falling  on  his 
grave,  to  take  his  place  above,  with  Him  upon  whom  he 
trusted,  —  and  his  place  in  the  eternal  memory  of  ages,  by 
the  side  of  the  Father  of  his  Country.  Let  us  humbly 
believe  that  His  guardian  care  will  still  be  over  us,  and 
that  this  dire  calamity,  now  so  fearful  in  our  eyes,  may  be 
made  instrumental  in  the  restoration  of  our  country. 

One  other  duty  awaits  us,  my  friends,  to  which  I  must 
allude  before  relieving  your  patience.  It  is  that  which 
we  owe  to  him  who  now,  under  the  Constitution,  has  be- 
come the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation.  He  was  chosen 
by  us  to  the  position  which  now  makes  him  the  executive 
head  of  the  Union,  because  of  our  confidence  in  his  ability 
and  patriotism ;  because  of  his  meritorious  services  in  up- 

7 


50  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

holding  the  Government  in  circumstances  of  peculiar  per- 
sonal peril,  and  his  unquestionable  fidelity  to  the  cause  of 
the  Union.  Let  us,  then,  readily  and  cheerfully  pledge  to 
him  the  same  united  and  cordial  support  given  to  his  pre- 
decessor, in  full  confidence  that  he  will  deserve  it,  —  and 
so  fulfil  the  solemn  duties  of  his  exalted  station  as  to  en- 
rol his  name  also,  among  the  distinguished  benefactors  of 
his  country. 

Hon.  Alexander  H.  Eice  was  then  introduced.     He  said  :  — 

MR.  MAYOR  :  I  earnestly  wish  that  I  might  remain  a 
silent  observer  and  listener  amid  these  solemn  scenes. 
To  me  the  occasion  needs  no  interpretation  by  speech ; 
the  meditations  of  the  last  two  days,  the  appalling  tidings 
as  they  have  spread  from  mouth  to  mouth,  the  saddened 
countenances  of  the  people,  the  tearful  eyes,  the  beating 
hearts,  the  solemn  step,  the  decorated  dwellings,  the 
closed  places  of  business,  and  now  these  mourning 
emblems  in  this  temple  of  liberty,  —  these  are  the 
eloquent  interpreters  of  the  public  sorrow.  - 

I  feel  deep  down  in  my  soul  a  fervent  love  and 
veneration  for  that  great  and  good  patriot  who  has  just 
now  passed  from  the  society  of  men  and  the  duties  of  earth 
to  the  assembly  of  heaven  ;  but  it  is  impossible  for  me 
thus  early  either  to  rightly  estimate  his  services  or  to 
portray  his  virtues.  It  will  indeed  require  more  than 
one  day  or  one  lifetime  to  gather  up  all  the  beneficent 
fruits  of  his  career. 

Would  that  some  tongue  could  gather  up  all  that  he 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL   HALL.  -51 

has  done  and  its  consequences,  and  pour  it  into  the  ears 
of  this  nation  and  of  mankind,  so  that  in  this  time  of 
stupendous  sorrow  we  might  lay  upon  his  bier  the  just 
tribute  of  our  veneration  and  gratitude  and  love.  He 
was  a  patriot  and  a  statesman  in  the  broadest  and 
completest  signification  of  those  terms.  He  was  emi- 
nently wise,  fearless  in  the  maintenance  of  the  right,  as 
gentle  as  a  child  to  the  erring,  magnanimous  beyond 
all  precedent  to  his  personal  enemies.  Who  that  con- 
templates such  a  character,  united  to  such  varied  and 
important  services  as  marked  his  administration  of  the 
Presidential  office,  can  but  exclaim,  O,  Justice,  surveying 
our  past  national  sins,  could'st  thou  be  satisfied  with  no 
less  a  sacrifice  I  O,  Death,  could  not  reddened  fields 
and  hecatombs  of  dead  complete  thy  carnival  without 
taking  him  also  who  was  the  deliverer  and  the  hope  of 
this  people  \ 

Fellow  Citizens :  Among  the  great  benefits. which  the 
nation  has  derived  from  its  experience  under  the  guidance 
of  him  whose  departure  we  mourn,  is  a  better  knowledge 
of  ourselves  and  of  the  nature  and  stability  of  the  institu- 
tions under  which  we  live.  We  have,  during  the  whole 
of  his  administration,  been  passing  through  the  terrible 
ordeal  of  civil  war.  Before  the  test  of  this  experience 
was  applied,  one-half  of  the  discord  and  resistance  which 
we  have  endured,  would,  in  the  belief  of  mankind,  have 
thrown  the  nation  into  anarchy,  and  its  institutions,  civil 
and  political,  into  ruin ;  but  with  all  the  conflicts  of  the 
four  years  past,  and  with  the  prospect  of  immediate  peace 
before  us,  I  believe  the  nation  is  stronger  now  than  it  has 


52- 


MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 


been  at  any  period  since  the  sun  first  shone  upon  its  flag. 
And  we  may  also  learn  from,  this  last  and  tragical  calamity 
that  the  country  lives,  not  in  men,  but  in  institutions  and 
laws.  Let  us  gather  out  of  the  past  and  the  present  the 
sustaining  hope  that  comes  to  us  as  we  look  upon  the 
effigies  of  departed  patriots  by  which  we  are  here  sur- 
rounded, and  upon  whom  and  their  compeers  the 
Kepublic  so  much  depended  in  days  by  gone.  Wash- 
ington is  dead,  Franklin  is  dead,  the  Adamses  are  dead, 
and  all  their  associates  are  gone.  Clay  and  Jackson,  and 
our  own  Webster  and  Everett,  of  later  years,  have 
departed,  and  now  Lincoln  is  dead.  But  the  Republic 
lives  ;  and  because  its  foundations  are  laid  in  immortal 
truth,  it  will  live  as  long  as  the  stars  shine  on  the  face  of 
the  sky.  And  hence  we  derive  the  admonition  that  we 
must  not  long  bathe  our  faces  with  tears,  must  not  stand 
gazing  upon  the  cold  remains  in  the  Presidential  mansion, 
nor  into  the  waiting  grave  so  soon  to  receive  all  that  is 
mortal  of  him  in  whom  we  just  now  trusted.  We  may, 
indeed,  mingle  our  sympathies  with  that  weeping  wife 
and  with  those  sorrowing  children,  weighed  down  with 
grief  almost  insupportable ;  and  we  may  mourn  with  the 
poor  and  the  oppressed  everywhere,  who  have  lost,  in 
the  martyred  President,  their  greatest  friend  and  their  un- 
tiring benefactor.  But  we  must  summon  also  our  best 
energies  for  the  new  exigencies  and  duties  of  the  present 
and  the  future  which  this  calamity  has  thrown  upon  us 
and  upon  our  countrymen.  And  first  of  all  let  us  give 
our  prompt  and  cordial  and  undivided  support  to  Andrew 
Johnson,  who  now  becomes  President  in  accordance  with 


MEETING    IN   FANEUIL    HALL.  53 

the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.     He  is  worthy  of  our 
confidence,  of  our  respect,  and  of  our  hearty  co-operation 
in  the  great  and  exhausting  duties  to  which  he  is  so 
suddenly  called.     Since  he  appeared   in  public  life,  his 
career  has  been  that  of  a  patriot  and  a  hero ;  and  since 
the  great  Rebellion  against  the  Government  arose,  he,  a 
Southern  man,  has  maintained  a  steadfast  fealty  to  his 
country,  to  its  laws,  its  institutions  and  to  its  liberties ; 
and,  whether  in  the  Senate  Chamber  or  as  Governor  of 
Tennessee,  has  met  the  doctrines  and  machinations   of 
treason  in  every  form  with  manly  and  defiant  resistance. 
Let  us  admit  to  our  minds  no  fears  or  doubts  that  the 
same  guiding  Providence  which  has  carried   the  nation 
safely  thus  far  through  this  tremendous  trial  will  be  with 
it  to  the  end.     Does  some  man  say  that  he  does  not  know 
Andrew  Johnson  1    Well,  we  knew  Abraham  Lincoln  even 
less ;  but  we  took  him  upon  trust,  and  God  revealed  him 
to  us  as  a  great  instrument  of  his  power  in  delivering  the 
oppressed  from  their  bondage,  and  in  shaping  the  destiny 
of  this  nation  through  a  more  exalted  and  illustrious  career. 
Does  some  man  doubt  whether  any  successor  can  be  like 
him?      God  only  knows  how  great    a  patriot    or  what 
varied  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  may  be  needed ;  but  if 
the  exigencies  of  the  immediate  future  shall  call  for  the 
exercise  of  great  and  strong,  and  yet  gentle  powers,  we 
may  trust  that  the  selection  of  him  who  now  accedes  to 
the  place  of  the  lately  departed  President,  was  not  made 
without  the  same  acknowledged  Divine  interposition  and 
direction. 

The  record  of  Andrew  Johnson  is  the  history  of  a  brave 


54  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

and  honest  man,  possessing  a   comprehensive  mind,  an 
open  and  generous  heart  quickened  by  the  impulses  of 
patriotic  devotion  to  liberty  and  his  country.     And  if,  in 
these  hours  of  natural  depression  and  distrust,  there  be 
doubts  whether  every  event  in  his  career  has  merited  our 
approbation ;    if,  in  short,  in  a  single  instance  we  should 
have  felt  a  strong  and  fervent  disapproval,  yet  let  God  be 
praised  if  we  can  any  of  us  gather  all  our  misdoings  into 
the  compass  of  a  single  act ;  ay,  and  let  Him  be  devoutly 
thanked  if  we  can  offset  the  damaging  incident  by  a  long 
recqrd  of  laborious  and  faithful  services.      For  my  part, 
Mr.  Mayor  and  fellow-citizens,  I  have  confidence  and  hope 
in  the  future :  apart  from  this  great  tragedy  all  the  events 
and  circumstances  by  which  we  are  encompassed  are  en- 
couraging.     The  Army  and  Navy  of  the  Republic  have 
pressed  back  the  once  towering  and  threatening  waves  of 
Treason   and  Rebellion.     The  lamented  President,  their 
Commander-in-Chief,  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  Rebel 
flags  trailed  in  the  dust  and  the  Rebel  leader  surrender  the 
flower  of  his  army.     He  lived  long  enough  to   see  the 
Rebellion  practically  ended ;  and  in  looking  for  the  instruc- 
tive lesson  that  it  may  be  designed  we  shall  be  taught  by 
the  melancholy  and  tragic  event  which  has  taken  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  country  from  us,  perhaps  God  in  His 
wisdom  saw  it  was  a  greater  boon  than  any  one  mortal 
should  possess,  to  enjoy  all  the  benedictions  that  shall 
follow  the  triumph  over  rebellion  and  the  restoration  of 
peace  to  our  distracted  land.     Perhaps  it  was  necessary 
for  our  future  security  and  for  the  ends  of  justice,  that  he 
should  pass  away  at  this  point  of  time  and  at  this  stage  of 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL   HALL.  55 

public  affairs,  and  be  succeeded  by  another,  born  and 
raised  in  that  section  of  the  country  where  the  Rebellion 
was  nurtured  and  originated,  and  who  more  intimately 
understands  its  atrocity,  and  the  spirit  and  purposes  of 
parricides  and  traitors. 

It  may  be  that  Andrew  Johnson's  knowledge  of  the  com- 
plications of  slavery  with  the  civil  and  industrial  systems  of 
the  rebellious  States,  was  necessary  to  secure  us  against  the 
reappearance  of  its  influence,  and  to  blot  out  its  existence 
from  our  land.  It  may  be  that  his  firm  hand  was  necessary 
to  guide  the  nation's  settlement  with  the  public  enemies  in 
accordance  with  the  terms  of  law  and  righteousness.  He 
has  yet  had  no  opportunity  to  declare  his  official  policy,  nor 
to  state  with  deliberation  what  he  will  seek  to  do  with  those 
who  may  be  amenable  to  the  law ;  but  he  has  declared  that 
he  esteems  treason  to  be  the  greatest  of  crimes, —  a  crime  to 
be  punished  and  not  lightly  forgiven,  —  and  in  this  declar- 
ation he  has  but  embodied  the  sentiment  and  feeling  of  a 
large  majority  of  his  countrymen.  Exhilarated  by  the 
prospect  of  returning  peace,  we  unite  the  influences  of 
magnanimity,  of  charity,  and  of  forgivness  ;  we  accept  the 
conviction  and  cherish  the  hope  that  by  some  means,  in 
the  exercise  of  forbearance  and  consistently  with  the  public 
honor  and  a  sense  of  justice,  the  masses  of  the  people  in 
the  now  alienated  sections  of  the  country  are  to  become 
speedily  reconciled ;  but  the  instigators  of  this  Treason  and 
Rebellion,  the  authors  and  principals  in  its  barbarous  atro- 
cities, and  sickening  cruelties,  and  assassinations,  must 
suffer  the  penalty  of  their  crimes.  We  want  no  more  of 
their  seditious  utterances,  sent  forth  to  breed  discord  and 


56  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

death  through,  the  land ;  we  want  no  more  of  their  open 
or  secret  conspiracies  against  the  lives  either  of  citizens  or 
of  the  Republic ;  no  more  of  their  presence  in  our  halls 
of  legislation,  none  of  their  fellowship  in  our  society ;  and 
the  loyal  people  will  demand  that  henceforth  they  shall 
not  be  admitted  there.  This  is  demanded,  not  by  vengeance 
but  by  justice,  if  there  be  any  virtue  in  penalties  anywhere, 
and  as  a  security  in  the  future  against  the  recurrence  of  a 
similar  calamity ;  that  it  may  teach  the  lesson  also  to  future 
Presidents  and  Cabinets  that  the  power  and  authority  o'f 
the  nation  are  superior  to  those  of  the  States ;  and  that 
hereafter  treason  must  be  strangled  in  its  infancy. 

Fellow-citizens,  let  us  not  doubt,  even  in  this  dark  hour 
of  national  sorrow,  that  peace  is  near  at  hand,  —  such  a 
peace  as  shall  bring  compensation  for  the  sacrifices  and 
for  the  heroism  of  this  war,  —  peace  to  a  country  delivered 
from  slavery  as  well  as  from  war ;  and  which  in  view  of  its 
future  greatness  and  reunion  is  already  calling  upon  us  for 
a  fresh  consecration  to  freedom  and  to  God. 

Hon.  Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr.,  made  the  following  remarks :  — 

% 
The  Martyr  President !     The  Martyr  President ! 

"  Treason  has  done  its  worst !  Nor  steel,  nor  poison, 
Malice  domestic,  foreign  levy,  nothing 
Can  touch  him  further." 

This  is  the  great  tragedy  of  history !  The  most  appalling, 
the  most  pernicious,  the  most  sickening !  For  the  assassi- 
nation of  rulers,  there  has  often  been  some  show  of 
provocation  or  public  cause ;  but  our  President  has 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  57 

—  "  borne  his  faculties  so  meek,  hath  been 
So  clear  in  his  great  office,  that  his  virtues 
Will  plead  like  angels,  trumpet-tongued,  against 
The  deep  damnation  of  his  taking  off." 

But  this  catastrophe  is  too  vast,  its  lessons  too  vital,  for 
us  to  linger  long  about  the  person  of  the  victim,  however 
strongly  affection  may  bind  us.  Simple,  prudent,  natural, 
faithful,  affectionate,  as  a  man ;  events  and  causes  provi- 
dential, inherent,  circumstantial,  and  accidental  have 
made  him  the  central  figure  in  the  great  era  of  modern 
times.  It  would  be  unworthy  of  him  and  his  place  in 
history,  beneath  the  vastness  of  the  catastrophe,  unfitting 
the  sacredness  of  this  Hall,  if  we  did  not  force  our  minds 
from  the  contemplation  of  the  tragic  scene  and  the  personal 
loss,  to  listen  to  the  great  lessons  that  this  event  is  reading 
to  us. 

It  seems  to  be  written  that  no  great  blessing,  no  redemp- 
tion can  come  to  race  or  nation,  as  not  to  human  nature 
itself,  without  the  shedding  of  blood.  This  blood  must  be 
sacramental  to  our  country.  It  must  be  the  seal,  the  final 
seal  to  the  covenant  of  our  national  existence  and  of 
human  rights. 

Shall  we  dip  our  napkins  in  his  blood  with  vows  of 
vengeance  ?  No  !  The  innocent  blood  of  that  kind  heart 
would  teach  us  no  such  lesson.  His  life  and  death  were 
for  his  country  and  the  liberty  of  the  oppressed.  Let  us 
take  to  heart  then,  as  in  the  presence  of  the  dead,  the 
lessons  his  death  teaches  us. 

The  spirit  of  assassination  must  be  rebuked  and  cast 
out.  We  owe  it  to  the  safety  of  our  public  men,  and  to 


58  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

the  fair  fame  of  our  country.     We  hoped  it  was  the  vice 
of  other  ages  and  other  climes.     Is  it  possible  that  the 
Southern  temper,  with  the  passions  which  Slavery  fosters, 
is  developing  in  that  direction  ?     When  our  Senator  was 
struck  down  in  the  Senate  chamber,  by  the  representative 
from  Carolina,  was  it  rebuked  ?  was  it  discountenanced  by 
the  power  in  whose  interests  it  was  done  1    No  !    It  was  ap- 
plauded and  honored  by  its  legislatures,  by  its  constituen- 
cies, by  its  press,  without  one  prominent  responsible  excep- 
tion.   Then  came  the  murders  and  massacres  by  which  Sla- 
very was  forced  into  Kansas.  Then  came  the  general  appeal 
to  arms.     Is  it  possible,  that  that  appeal  failing,  there  is  a 
spirit  that  leads  them  to  the  secret  steel  and  to  the  poisoned 
cup  ?     If  this  be  so,  the  soldier  must  meet  it  in  arms,  the 
magistrate  with  the  sword  of  justice,  wherever  it  appears 
in  act.    These  murderers  are  not  paradoxes,  anachronisms, 
without  cause  or  accompaniments.    They  are  but  the  crests 
of  a  wave  that  lifts  them  up  and  bears  them  on.     The  spirit 
must  be  exorcised,  not  by  violence,  not  by  retaliation,  for 
then  violence  becomes  the  order  of  the  day.     Wherever 
any  of  its  spirit  appears,  religion  must  denounce  it  as  a 
sin,  and  society  cast  it  out  as  an  offence.     Here,  in  New 
England,  if  there  is  a  spot  which  did  not  answer  with 
horror  to  the  tidings  of  this  crime,  "  Let  that  spot  be  puri- 
fied, or  let  it  cease  to  be  of  New  England."     If  there  was 
a  man  whose  first  thought  and  utterance  were  not  that  of 
horror  and  reprobation,  who  needed  a  second  thought  to 
furnish  him  the  seemly  utterance,  What  shall  we  do  with 
him  1     I  will  tell  you.    If  he  be  hungry,  feed  him  !    If  he 
be  naked,  clothe  him !  sick  or  in  prison,  minister  unto 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  59 

him !     But  mark  him ! .   Let  him  live !     But  let  him  live 
among  you  "  a  man  forbid." 

The  last  four  years  have  been  a  daily  issue  of  life  and 
death  for  our  country,  the  most  momentous,  perilous,  and 
costly  struggle  ever  made  for  a  nation's  life.  The  scale 
has  turned  for  life.  The  clouds  of  war  are  clearing  away, 
but  the  civil  dangers  are  imminent.  Among  the  last  words 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  find  a  true  statement  of  the  great  prin- 
ciple which  must  guide  us,  and  which  at  this  hour  we  may 
lay  to  heart.  He  declared  that  this  Rebellion  is  the  act  of 
individuals,  and  return  to  allegiance  must  be  the  act  of 
individuals ;  that  there  is  no  public  body  to  be  dealt  with. 
If  that  simple,  homely  principle  is  adhered  to,  the  Re- 
public will  come  out  a  Government,  —  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  term,  a  State.  If  it  is  not  adhered  to,  we  permit 
ourselves  to-be  resolved  into  a  Confederation.  He  clearly 
understood  that  the  Republic  was  a  sovereignty,  to  which 
each  citizen  owed  a  direct  and  paramount  allegiance,  from 
which  no  State  could  absolve  him,  and  consequently  that 
in  return  to  allegiance  and  in  the  restoration  of  peace,  no 
State  could  be  a  party  to  a  transaction  with  the  Republic. 
In  war  with  a  recognized  nation,  there  is  a  power  with 
which  you  can  make  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  a  moment  up 
to  which  lawful  war  exists,  and  after  which  peace  begins. 
But  in  this  Rebellion,  peace  must  come  as  fair  weather 
comes  after  a  tempest,  as  general  health  comes  after  the 
plague  or  the  cholera.  But  who  ever  heard  of  health  es- 
tablished by  a  compact  to  which  the  public  were  one  party 
and  the  epidemic  another  1  Yet,  how  near  some  ill-in- 
structed men  came  to  sacrificing  this  vital  principle  the 


60  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

other  day  at  Richmond !  Thank  God,  the  President  lived 
long  enough,  with  his  Cabinet,  to  set  it  right !  No  State 
can  be  permitted  to  repeal  its  ordinance  of  secession.  No 
State  Legislature  can  be  permitted  to  deliberate  upon  the 
question  of  coming  back  into  the  Union.  The  authority 
of  the  Republic  over  every  foot  of  its  soil  and  every  one 
of  its  citizens  has  never  ceased.  It  must  go  on  as  of  right, 
and  not  by  the  consent  of  any  body  natural,  or  any  body 
political. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  from  the  beginning  of  his  public  life  until 
war  changed  the  face  of  the  question,  contented  himself 
with  resisting  the  advance  of  Slavery.  Had  the  country 
resisted  it  as  he  did,  the  war  might  never  have  begun.  At 
last,  he  would  be  content  with  nothing  less  than  its  total 
extinction.  This  lesson  his  death  must  consecrate.  To  this 
covenant  oc  freedom  the  seal  of  his  blood  is  set. 

There  is  but  one  more  lesson  which  at  this  moment  I 
seem  to  read  through  the  gloomy  air.  It  is  the  lesson  of 
forgiveness  and  conciliation.  But  when  and  how  1  They 
are  neither  wise  nor  humane  who  are  inexorable  as  to  per- 
sons, but  cloudy  and  temporizing  on  the  vital  principle. 
Let  us  be  inflexible  on  the  principle.  When  that  has 
triumphed,  when  the  Republic  is  recognized  as  paramount 
by  its  own  power  and  right,  when  all  citizens  have  submit- 
ted as  individuals,  and  the  course  of  civil  law  runs  smooth 
through  the  country,  then  the  lesson  of  conciliation  and 
pardon  is.  to  be  put  in  practice.  Then,  not  till  then,  has 
the  war  ceased.  A  trial  of  strength  or  skill,  a  boxing- 
match,  ends  when  one  party  ceases  to  fight.  But  war  is 
not  a  trial  of  strength.  It  is  a  resort  to  force,  to  secure  a 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL   HALL.  61 

public  object.  You  may  hold  your  enemy  in  the  grasp  of 
war,  until  your  just  objects  are  secured.  We  will  then 
practise  conciliation  and  forgiveness  to  the  full  measure  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  kind  and  generous  heart.  In  vast  political 
rebellions,  which  have  taken  the  dimensions  of  war,  and 
have  been  treated  as  belligerent  for  the  time,  at  home  and 
abroad,  —  it  is  justifiable  to  punish  as  traitors  a  few  who 
originated  and  concocted  the  treason.  Yet,  after  security 
is  obtained,  it  is  not  in  accordance  with  Christian  civiliza- 
tion or  the  dignity  and  best  interests  of  a  people,  to  pursue 
whole  communities  with  criminal  or  penal  consequences. 
God  grant  the  time  may  come,  and  that  speedily,  when  a 
conciliation  and  peace  may  exist  over  the  land,  which 
would  satisfy  the  kindest  wishes  of  this  our  chief  martyr, 
ever  hereafter  to  be  called  —  of  blessed  memory ! 

The  meeting  closed  with  a  Benediction,  pronounced  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Lothrop. 


PROCESSION 


SERVICES  ON  THE  FIRST  OF  JUNE. 


PROCESSION  AND  SERVICES  ON  THE  FIRST  OF  JUNE. 


The  President  of  the  United  States  having  set  apart  Thursday,  the 
first  of  June,  1865,  as  a  day  whereon  all  should  be  occupied  at  the 
same  time  in  contemplation  of  the  virtues,  and  sorrow  for  the  sud- 
den and  violent  end  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  that  day  was  selected  by 
the  Committee  appointed  under  the  resolutions  of  the  City  Council, 
as  a  proper  occasion  for  the  delivery  of  a  Eulogy  before  the  City 
Government.  An  invitation  was  extended  to  the  Honorable  Charles 
Sumner,  to  deliver  the  Eulogy  in  Music  Hall,  and  was  accepted. 
As  a  number  of  organizations,  civil  and  military,  had  expressed  a 
desire  to  make  some  demonstration  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
late  President,  arrangements  were  made  for  a  Procession  on  the 
same  day.  Col.  Francis  W.  Palfrey  was  appointed  Chief  Mar- 
shal ;  and,  in  accordance  with  a  general  invitation  from  His  Honor 
the  Mayor,  a  large  number  of  bodies,  Military,  Masonic,  Chari- 
table, Trades,  and  Fire  companies,  in  Boston  and  its  immediate 
vicinity,  reported  to  him  for  orders.  The  Procession  was  announced 
to  move  at  12  o'clock  M.,  and  was  marshalled  in  the  following 
order :  — 

THE  ESCOET. 

Mounted  Police  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Edward  H.  Savage, 

Deputy  Chief. 

Brig.  Gen.  Wm.  F.  Bartlett,  Commanding  Escort. 
Capt.  Chas.  B.  Amory,  Assistant  Adj.    General. 
9 


66  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Band  from  the  Charlestown  Navy  Yard. 

Battalion    of  United  States  Marines,   Capt.  George  Butler  Com- 
manding. 
Detachment  of  Sailors  from  the  United  States  Receiving  Ship. 

Boston  Brigade  Band. 

Independent  Corps  of  Cadets,  Lieut.  Col.  C.  C.  Holmes. 
Second  Regiment  of  Infantry,  M.  V.  M.,  Lieut.  Col.  O.  W.  Pea- 
body  commanding. 
Twenty-fifth  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Alfred  N. 

Proctor. 

Morse's  Cambridge  Band. 

Fourteenth  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Lewis  Gaul. 

Ninth  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Geo.  H.  Smith. 

First  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Moses  E.  Bigelow. 

Cambridge  Brass  Band. 
Thirty-first  Unattached   Company,  M.  V.  M..,  Capt.  Robt. 

Torrey,  Jr. 

Twelfth  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Geo.  A.  Meacham. 
First  Light  Battery,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Lucius  J.  Cummings. 
Second  Light  Battery,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Warren  French. 

Haverhill  Cornet  Band. 
Thirty-fourth  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Charles  F. 

Harrington. 

Fourth  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  John  Q.  Adams. 
Fortieth  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  John  R.  Farrell. 
Forty-sixth  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  Timothy  A. 

Hurley. 

Co.  D.  42d  Regiment  of  Infantry,  M.  V.M.,  Capt.  J.  P.  Jordan. 
Fifty-third  Unattached  Company,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  John  Maguire. 

Chauncy  Hall  School  Company,  Capt.  Gerald  Wyman. 

English  High  School  Company,  Capt.  Thomas  G.  Johonnot. 

Gilmore's  Band. 


PROCESSION     AND     SERVICES.  67 

Seventh  Eegiment  'of  Infantry,  M.  V.  M.,  Capt.  H.  O.  Whitte- 

more  commanding. 

Chelsea  Brass  Band. 

First  Battalion  of  Cavalry,  M.  V.  M.,  Major  Chas.  W.  Wilder. 

Capt.  Geo.  W.  Bird,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Fire  Department. 
Assistant  Engineers,  John  S.  Damrell,  David  Chamberlin,  Joseph 

Dunbar. 

Veterans  of  the  Department  in  carriages. 

Engine  No.  1,  Capt.  Fred.  Wright. 

Hose  No.  1,  Capt.  B.  C.  Brownell. 

Hook  and  Ladder  No.  1,  Capt.  Moses  Place. 

Engine  No.  2,  Capt.  John  Brown. 

Hose  No.  2,  Capt.  Benj.  Wright. 

Hook  and  Ladder  No.  2,  Capt.  Charles  Simmons. 

Engine  No.  3,  Capt.  F.  Hines. 
Hose  No.  3,  Capt.  Geo.  W.  Clark. 
Hook  and  Ladder  No.  3,  Capt  J.  F.  Marston. 

Engine  No.  4,  Capt.  John  A.  Fines. 

Howard  Engine  No.  1,  of  Charlestown,  Capt.  H.  L.  Whiting. 

Fire  King  Engine  No.  2,  of  Chelsea,  Capt.  D.  W.  Pepper. 

Hose  No.  4,  Capt.  H.  V.  Hay  wood. 

Engine  No.  5,  Capt  Geo.  A.  Tucker. 

Hose  No.  5,  Capt.  Silas  Lovell. 

Engine  No.  6,  Capt.  Chas.  C.  Geer. 

Hose  No.  6,  Capt.  Joseph  Barnes. 

Engine  No.  7,  Capt.  Geo.  L.  Imbert. 

Engine  No.  8,  Capt.  John  S.  Jacobs. 

Hose  No.  8,  Capt.  Chas.  H.  Prince. 

Hose  No.  9,  Capt.  Thos.  C.  Byrnes. 

Engine  No.  10,  Capt  Rufus  B.  Farrar. 

Hose  No.  10,  Capt.  Joseph  Frye. 


68  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

COL.  FRANCIS  W.  PALFREY,  Chief  Marshal. 
Aids. 

Brevt.  Brig.  Gen.  Wm.  S.  Tilton,  Col.  Chas.  L.  Peirson, 

Maj.  B.  W.  Crowninshield,  Francis  Bartlett, 

A.  J.  Holbrook,  John  M.  Glidden. 

Volunteer  Aids,  consisting  of  officers  of  Massachusetts  Volunteers, 
under  the  command  of  Col.  A.  F.  Devereux. 

* 

FIRST   DIVISION. 

Portsmouth  Brass  .Band. 

Detachment  of  Police  under  Sergeant  Dunn. 

Brevet.  Brig.  Gen.  F.  A.  Osborn,  Chief  of  Division. 

Maj.  Edward  C.  Richardson,  Capt  Thos.  M.  Sweet,  Marshals. 

Col.  John  Kurtz,  Chief  of  Police. 
His  Honor  the  Mayor,  and  President  of  the  Common  Council. 

Committee  of  Arrangements  and  Chaplains  of  the  Day. 
Invited  guests,  consisting  of  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  repre- 
sentatives of  Foreign  Powers,  and  distinguished  gentle- 
men from  abroad. 
Members  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  the  City  Clerk,   and  City 

Messenger. 
Members  of  the  Common  Council  and  Clerk. 

Members  of  the  School  Committee. 

Trustees,  Superintendent,  and  Librarian  of  the  Public  Library. 
Trustees  and  Superintendent  of  the  City  Hospital. 

Trustees  of  the  Mount  Hope  Cemetery. 
Members  of  the  Board  of  Directors  for  Public  Institutions,   and 

officers  of  the  Institutions. 

Members  of  the  Cochituate  Water  Board  and  Secretary. 
City  Treasurer,  City  Auditor,  City  Solicitor,  and  City  Engineer. 


PROCESSION    AND    SERVICES.  69 

City  Physician,  Port  Physician,  Consulting  Physician,  and  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons  of  the  City  Hospital. 

Superintendent  of  Streets,  Superintendent  of  Public  Buildings,  Su- 
perintendent of  Internal  Health,  Superintendent  of  Sewers 

and   Lands. 

City  Registrar  and  Water  Registrar. 

Principal  Assessors  and  other  city  officers. 

Members  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

Members  of  the  Humane  Society  of  Massachusetts. 

Members  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

Members  of  the  Historic- Genealogical  Society. 

SECOND   DIVISION. 

Boston  Cornet  Band. 

Sam'l  A.  B.  Bragg,  Chief  of  Division. 

Geo.  M.  White,  J.  Frederic  Marsh,  Marshals. 

This  Division  was  composed  of  the  following  named  Temperance 
Organizations :  — 

New  Era  Division. 

Grand  Division. 

Old  Bay  State  Division. 

Massachusetts  Division. 

American  Division. 

Caledonia  Division. 

Island  Home  Division. 

Bond's  Cornet  Band. 

Grand  Temple  of  Honor. 

Trimount  Temple  of  Honor. 

Bay  State  Temple  of  Honor. 

Union  Temple  of  Honor. 
Crystal  Fount  Temple  of  Honor. 


70  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Williams  Temple  of  Honor. 

Commonwealth  Temple  of  Honor. 

Radiant  Star  Temple  of  Honor. 

Sagamore  Temple  of  Honor. 

Naiad  Temple  of  Honor. 

All  the  Organizations  were  clad  in  regalia,  and  bore  the  banners 
and  insignia  peculiar  to  the  order. 


THIRD    DIVISION. 

Germania  Band. 
Wm.  B.  May,  Chief  of  Division. 
Wm.  H.  Hill,  Jr.,  Asa  Potter,  Marshals. 
The  Grand  Lodge  and  Subordinate  Lodges  of  Masons  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. 
Woburn  Brass  Band. 

The  Grand  Lodge  of  the  Independent  order  of  Odd  Fellows  of 

Massachusetts,  and  Subordinate  Lodges,  as  follows  :  — — 

Massachusetts  Lodge. 

Siloam  Lodge. 

Boston  Lodge. 

Oriental  Lodge. 

Tremont  Lodge. 

Franklin  Lodge. 

Bethesda  Lodge. 

Hermann  Lodge. 

Bunker  Hill  Lodge,  Charlestown. 

Mutual  Relief  Lodge,  Haverhill. 

Montezuma  Lodge. 

Bond's  Second  Band." 

Ancient  York  Lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons. 


PROCESSION    AND    SERVICES.  71 


FOURTH   DIVISION. 

Lieut.  Col.  C.  G.  Kowell,  Chief  of  Division. 

Lieut.  Geo.  W.  Perkins,  Wm.  D.  Foster,  P.   Mclnerny,  Mar- 
shals. 

Express  Wagons  of  Adams  &  Co.  Harnden  &  Co.  and  the  Ameri- 
can Company. 
American  Brass  Band  of  Providence. 

Trades  Associations  in  the  following  order  :  — 

Workingmen's  Assembly,    composed   of  delegates  of  the  various 

Trades  Unions. 

Cooper's  TJniom  No.  1,  of  Massachusetts. 
Boston  Painter's  Protective  Union. 

Steam  Boiler  Makers'  Union. 
Steam  Boiler  Makers  from  the  Chief  Engineer's  Depa  rtment  in  the 

•  -    Navy  Yard. 
Sailmakers'  Union  Association. 
Tailors'  Trade  and  Protective  Society. 

Shipwright's  Union. 

Journeymen  Shipwrights'  Association,  of  Boston  and  vicinity. 
Ship  Fastener's  Association  of  Charlestown. 
Journeymen  Marble  Cutters'  Association. 

Brass  Band  from  Fort  Independence. 

Columbian  Association  of  Shipwrights  and  Caulkers.  [Two 
ancient  banners  were  carried  in  the  ranks  of  this  Society,  one  of 
which  was  carried  at  the  funeral  procession  of  Washington  in 
1799.] 

Bookbinders'  Association. 
Boston  Printers'  Union. 


72  MEMORIAL    OF   PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 


FIFTH    DIVISION. 

U.  S.  Band  from  Gralloupe's  Island. 

Col.  P.  R.  Guiney,.  Chief  of  Division. 

Lieut.  Col.  Norton,  Capt.  C.  C.  Plunkett,  Marshals. 

Military  Associations  in  the  following  order :  — 

Bunker  Hill  Soldiers'  Association,  of  Charlestown. 

Massachusetts  Volunteers  in  the  Mexican  War. 

Eleventh  Regiment  Association. 

Ninas'  Battery  Associates. 
First  Massachusetts  Veteran  Volunteers. 

L}nn  Veterans' Union. 
Massachusetts  Veterans'  Union,  of  Boston. 

The  rear  of  the  Division  was  formed  by  a  body  of  between  two 
hundred  and 'three  hundred  disabled  soldiers  in  carriages,  belong- 
ing mainly  to  the  Boston  Veterans'  Union. 


SIXTH    DIVISION. 

Metropolitan  Band  of  Boston. 

Michael  Doherty,  Chief  of  Division. 

James  Fitzgerald,  Thos.  Doherty,  Marshals. 

Irish  Associations  in  the  following  order  :  — 

American  Hibernian  Society. 

Boston  United  Laborers'  Society. 

The  Fenian  Brotherhood,  composed  of  the  following  circles. 

Boston  Circle. 

South  Boston  Circle. 

East  Boston  Circle. 

Chelsea  Circle. 


PROCESSION    AND    SERVICES.  73 

McManus  Circle  of  Boston. 

Wolf  Tone  Circle  of  Boston. 

Charlestown  Circle. 

Somerville  Circle. 

Emmet  Circle,  East  Cambridge. 

Davis  Circle,  Lynn. 
Davis  Circle,  Cambridge. 

Taunton  Circle. 

Brighton  and  Brookline  Circle.  « 

Watertown  Circle. 
Stoneham  Circle. 
South  Reading  Circle. 

Woburn  Circle. 
West  Cambridge  Circle. 

Wey mouth  Circle. 
Corcoran  Circle,  Boston. 


SEVENTH   DIVISION. 

Salem  Brass  Band. 

James  J.  Flynn,  Chief  of  Division. 

Charles  J.  McCarthy,  T.  J.  Leary,  Marshals. 

Irish  Associations  in  the  following  order  :  — 

Boston  Roman  Catholic  Mutual  Relief  Society. 

St.  John's  Institute  Band. 
St.  John's  Mutual  Relief  Society. 

Boston  Shamrock  Society. 
St.  Vincent's  Total  Abstinence  and  Mutual  Relief  Society. 

* 

Boston  Irish  American  Benevolent  Society. 

Hibernian  Benevolent  Society. 
Emmet  Association,  accompanied  by  Quimby's  Drum  Corps. 

Brighton  Mutual  Relief  Society. 
10 


74  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

United  Association  of  American  Hibernians . 

Brookline  Hibernian  Association. 
Boston  Provident  Laborers'  Benevolent  Association. 


EIGHTH   DIVISION. 

Maiden  Brass  Band. 
Ezekiel  W.  Pike,  Chief  of  Division. 

'  David  F.  McGilvray,  Maj.  J.  W.  McDonald,  Marshals. 
Miscellaneous  Societies  in  the  following  order  :  — 

Boston  Scottish  Club. 

Scots'  Charitable  Society. 

Mechanic  Apprentices'  Library  Association . 

Charlestown  Cornet  Band. 

German  St.  Vincent's  Society. 

Scandinavian  Benevolent  Relief  Society. 

Newton  Brass  Band. 
American  Protestant  Association. 
Independent  Order  of  Redmen. 

At  the  hour  designated,  the  different  divisions  were  put  in  motion 
over  the  following  route  :  Through  Cornhill,  Dock  Square,  Market 
Square,  south  side,  and  South  Market  Street  to  Commercial  Street, 
through  Commercial  Street  to  Fleet  Street,  through  Fleet  Street  to 
Hanover  Street,  up  Hanover  Street  to  Blackstone  Street,  through 
Blackstone  Street,  Haymarket  Square,  and  Merrimac  Street  to 
Causeway  Street,  through  Causeway  Street  to  Leverett  Street, 
through  Leverett  Street  to  Green  Street,  through  Green  Street, 
Court  Street,  Tremont  Row,  and  Tremont  Street  to  Beacon  Street, 
through  Beacon  Street  to  Berkeley  Street,  through  .Berkeley  Street, 
to  Commonwealth  Avenue,  through  Commonwealth  Avenue  to  Ar- 
lington Street,  through  Arlington  Street  to  Boylston  Street,  through 


PROCESSION    AND    SERVICES.  75 

Boylston  Street  to  Park  Square,  through  Park  Square  and  Pleasant 
Street  to  Tremont  Street,  through  Tremont  Street  to  Chester  Square, 
through  Chester  Square  and  Chester  Park  to  Washington  Street, 
through  Washington  Street  to  Cornhill. 

The  number  of  persons  in  the  Procession  was  estimated  at  about 
twelve  thousand;  and  the  time  occupied  in  passing  a  given  point, 
was  one  hour  and  forty  minutes.  On  the  arrival  of  the  right  of 
the  escort  at  Winter  Street,  soon  after  three  o'clock,  it  was  halted 
and  formed  in  line  until  the  carriages  containing  the  City  Govern- 
ment and  invited  guests  had  proceeded  up  Winter  Street  to  the 
entrance  of  Music  Hall. 

The  Hall  was  elaborately  draped  with  the  insignia  of  mourning. 
The  face  of  the  upper  balcony,  opposite  the  platform,  bore  the 
inscription  — 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 
"  Born  Feb.  12,  1809.     Died  April  15,  1865." 

And  the  side  balconies  — 

"Inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States  March  4,   1861." 
"Emancipation  Proclamation  Issued  Jan.  1,  1863." 

At  the  rear  of  the  Hall  were  white  banners  suspended,  with 
these  inscriptions  :  — 

"It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task 
remaining  before  us :  that  from  the  honored  dead  we  take  increased 
devotion  to  the  cause  for  which  they  have  given  the  last  full  measure 
of  devotion  ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not 
have  died  in  vain ;  that  the  nation  shall,  under  God,  have  a  new 
birth  of  freedom ;  and  that  the  government  by  the  people,  for  the 
people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." — Lincoln's  Address  at 
Gettysburg,  Nov.  19,  1863. 


76  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

"  With  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness 
in  the  right,  as  God  shall  give  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wound,  to  care 
for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and 
orphan,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting 
peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." — Extract  from  Presi- 
dent Lincoln's  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1865. 

The  platform  was  occupied  by  invited  guests,  and  by  members  of 
the  Handel  and  Haydn  chorus,  numbering  about  six  hundred. 
In  front  of  the  organ  there  was  a  massive  black  pedestal ,  surmounted 
by  an  urn,  which  was  covered  by  a  profusion  of  flowers. 

At  a  quarter  past  four  o'clock  the  services  were  opened  with  a 
voluntary  on  the  organ,  by  Mr.  B.  J.  Lang. 

Rev.  E.  B.  Webb  offered  the  following  prayer :  — 

O  Lord  our  God,  assembled  that  we  may  commemorate 
the  virtues  and  honor  the  memory  of  our  late  beloved  and 
martyred  President,  we  turn  to  thee  rejoicing  that  thou 
ever  livest.  We  are  like  the  grass  of  the  field,  —  in  the 
morning  it  flourisheth  and  groweth  up ;  in  the  evening 
it  is  cut  down  and  withereth.  But  with  thee  there  is 
no  morning  and  no  evening,  —  no  beginning  and  no 
end.  We  change,  die,  and  disappear,  but  thou  art  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  Creatures  of  a 
moment,  we  rejoice  in  thine  Eternity.  And  we  thank 
thee  for  the  knowledge  which  we  have  of  thine  attri- 
butes, character,  and  condescension  to  the  sinful  children 
of  men.  Though  thou  dost  by  no  means  clear  the 
guilty,  to  the  penitent  and  believing  thou  dost  show 
thyself  merciful,  forgiving  iniquity,  transgression,  and 


PROCESSION   AND    SERVICES.  77 

' 

sin.  Do  thou,  who  knowest  the  thoughts  of  all  hearts, 
make  us  truly  penitent,  and  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ, 
thy  Son,  our  Savi;ur,  pardon  all  our  neglect,  omission,  and 
failure,  —  pardon  all  our  transgression  of  the  commands, 
precepts,  and  spirit  of  thy  most  holy  law  and  gospel. 
And  send  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter,  to  make  us 
more  tenderly  obedient,  and  more  truly  like  Him  who 
is  our  example  as  well  as  our  Redeemer. 

We  thank  thee  to-day,  O  thou  who  hast  appointed  the 
times  and  the  bounds  of  the  nations,  for  the  rich  broad 
land  in  which  we  dwell ;  and  for  the  strong  free  govern- 
ment under  which  we  live.  We  thank  thee  for  the 
memory  of  thy  great  goodness  unto  our  fathers  in  the 
midst  of  persecutions,  privations,  perils,  and  wars.  We 
thank  thee  for  the  mercies  shown  us,  their  children,  in 
these  four  long  years  of  Rebellion,  bloodshed,  grief,  and 
anguish,  —  for  the  spirit  of  our  people  and  for  the  success 
of  our  arms.  Truly  thy  judgments  have  been  severe, 
and  as  just  as  severe  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  wrath  thou  hast 
remembered  mercy.  By  terrible  things  in  righteousness 
hast  thou  answered  us,  O  God  of  our  Salvation. 

Especially  now  do  we  thank  thee  for  the  President  whom 
thou  didst  give  us  to  preside  over  the  Government  in 
these  perilous  times,  and  to  bring  our  affairs  to  a  pros- 
perous issue.  Thou  art  our  Creator  and  Preserver,  and 
thou  art  glorified  in  the  life  of  all  good  men.  We  thank 
thee  that  thou  didst  turn  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  this 
man  again  and  again  ;  and  that  thou  didst  shield  him 
against  sickness,  accident,  and  the  assaults  of  the  enemy, 
till  his  noble  character  was  definitely  defined  and  dis- 


78  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

4 

tinctly  brought  out  to  the  eyes  and  the  apprehensions  of  all 

men.  We  thank  thee  for  that  childlike,  honest  mind,  — 
for  that  sweet,  forgiving  temper,  —  for  that  large,  practical 
common  sense,  which  together  called  forth  the  confidence 
of  the  people  and  bound  them  to  him  as  with  hooks  of 
steel.  We  thank  thee  that  though  he  did  not  live  to 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  toils  and  sacrifices,  he  did  live  long 
enough  to  see  the  glory  of  the  coming  day.  And  now 
that  he  is  no  more,  help  us  with  a  truly  grateful  and 
appreciative  spirit  to  receive  the  inheritance  of  his  virtues 
and  his  life.  Help  us  also  to  hear  the  voice  which  speaks 
to  us  from  his  lips,  bidding  us  trust  thee  in  the  darkest 
hours  ;  bidding  us  watch  for  the  finger  of  thy  Providence 
to  determine  our  way;  bidding  us  to  break  every  yoke, 
and  to  mingle  forbearance  with  severity,  and  mercy  with 
justice  in  all  our  acts.  Sanctify  to  this  nation  the  bereave- 
ment which  has  come  upon  us,  and  cause  the  wrath  and 
wickedness  of  traitors  and  assassins  to  praise  thee.  May 
we  learn  not  to  trust  in  an  arm  of  flesh,  but  in  the  Lord 
God  Almighty. 

And  now  let  thy  blessing  rest  to-day  and  in  the  days  to 
come  upon  all  the  departments  of  the  Government  which 
thou  hast  so  graciously  sustained  and  so  greatly  prospered, 
—  regard  thy  servant,  the  President  of  these  United  States, 
spare  his  life  and  bestow  upon  him  the  spirit  of  counsel 
and  of  might ;  make  him  of  quick  understanding  in  the  fear 
of  the  Lord.  Guide  him  in  judgment,  and  make  his 
administration  a  reign  of  righteousness.  Lay  thy  hand  in 
benediction  also  upon  his  Cabinet,  and  lift  them  above  all 
selfish  ambition,  party-strife,  and  prejudice,  —  upon  our 


PROCESSION    AND    SERVICES.  79 

Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress,  and  enable 
them  to  understand  thy  will,  and  to  define  and  declare  it 
in  laws  which  the  people  shall  receive  into  their  hearts 
and  consciences,  and  obey.  Behold  also  and  bless  the 
Chief  Justice,  and  all  his  associates.  Smile  graciously 
upon  the  Lieutenant-General,  and  upon  all  subordinate 
officers,  —  upon  our  army  and  our  navy. 

Bless,  we  beseech  thee,  all  the  people,  and  sanctify  the 
loss  and  bereavement  to  those  who  mourn  their  dead,  slain 
in  battle,  starved  in  hostile  prisons,  or  worn  out  with 
disease  and  wounds  in  hospitals  and  show,  them  that  the 
prize  gained  for  us  and  for  our  children,  and  for  the 
nations  and  generations  to  come,  is  worth  the  terrible 
cost. 

And  do  thou,  O  God,  forgive  our  enemies,  defeated  in 
their  appeal  to  arms,  conquered  at  last  on  every  field. 
Have  mercy  upon  the  souls  of  such  as  shall  be  called  to 
surrender  their  forfeited  lives  in  expiation  of  their  crimes 
and  in  satisfaction  of  justise.  Grant  repentance  and  par- 
don to  all,  O  Lord,  and  make  them  henceforth  loyal  to 
thee  and  to  the  Government  whose  hand  has  ever  been  out- 
stretched with  protection  and  blessing.  Remember  with 
thy  favor  the  city  in  which  we  dwell,  —  all  its  officers  and 
enterprises.  Make  the  mournful  occasion  which  calls  us 
together  at  this  time  one  of  lasting  profit  to  every  citizen 
and  to  the  stranger  within  our  gates.  Help  thy  servant 
who  is  to  address  us,  to  speak  the  truth  in  love,  and  cause 
all  the  exercises  of  this  day  and  the  events  of  these  years, 
—  all  the  terrible  scenes  and  sufferings  through  which  we 
have  been  made  to  pass,  to  contribute  to  the  purifying  of 


80  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

our  hearts,  to  the  perfecting  of  the  nation,  and  to  the 
advancement  of  thy  truth  and  glory  throughout  this  whole 
land  and  the  world.  Hear  us,  O  Lord,  in  the  name  and 
for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  whom  thou  dost 
always  hear. 

And  unto  thy  great  and  adorable  name,  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  shall  be  ascribed  all  honor,  dominion, 
and  praise,  now  and  evermore.  AMEN. 

The  dirge,  "Mourn  ye  Afflicted  People,"  from  Judas  Maccabeus, 
was  then  performed  by  the  Handel  and  Haydn  Society,  after 
which  Rev.  Warren  H.  Cudworth  read  the  following  selections 
from  the  Scriptures  :  — 

Now  the  Lord  had  said  unto  Abram,  Get  thee  out  of  thy 
country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  unto  a  land  that  I  will  shew  thee : 
and  I  will  bless  thee ;  and  make  thy  name  great ;  and  thou  shalt 
be  a  blessing.  And  I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse 
him  that  curseth  thee :  and  in  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed.  —  Gen.  xii.  1-3. 
»  And  Abram  journeyed,  going  on  still  toward  the  South.  —  Gen. 

xii.  9. 

And  the  Lord  said,  Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from  the 
place  where  thou  art,  Northward,  and  Southward,  and  Eastward, 
and  Westward ;  for  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  I 
give  it.  In  the  length  of  it,  and  in  the  breadth  of  it,  I  will  give  it 
unto  thee.  —  Gen.  xiii.  14-17. 

Fear  not,  I  am  thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding  great  reward.  — 
Gen.  xv.  1. 

And  he  believed  in  the  Lord ;  and  he  counted  it  to  him  for 
righteousness.  —  Gen.  xv.  6. 


PROCESSION    AND    SERVICES.  81 

And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  I  am  the  Almighty  God :  walk 
before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect.  —  Gen.  xvii.  1. 

And  it  came  to  pass  at  that  time,  that  the  Chief  Captain,  of  his 
host  spake  unto  Abraham,  saying,  God  is  with  thee  in  all  that 
thou  doest.  — Gen.  xxi.  22. 

And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  called  unto  him  out  of  heaven,  and 
said,  Abraham,  Abraham ;  by  myself  have  I  sworn,  saith  the 
Lord,  that  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee ;  and  thy  seed  shall  possess 
the  gate  of  his  enemies,  because  thou  hast  obeyed  my  voice.  — 
Gen.  xxii.  11,  16-18. 

The  steps  of  a  good  man  are  ordered  by  the  Lord,  and  He 
delighteth  in  his  way.  — Ps.  xxxvii.  23. 

Thou,  Lord,  wilt  bless  the  righteous ;  with  favor  wilt  thou 
compass  him  as  with  a  shield. — Ps.  v.  12. 

Some  trust  in  chariots,  and  some  in  horses  ;  but  we  will  remem- 
ber the  name  of  the  Lord  our  God. — Ps.  xx.  7. 

Blessed  is  the  nation  whose  God  is  the  Lord :  and  the  people 
whom  he  hath  chosen  for  his  own  inheritance.  — Ps.  xxxiii.  12. 

Come,  behold  the  works  of  the  Lord,  what  desolations  he  hath 
made  in  the  earth.  He  maketh  wars  to  cease  unto  the  end  of  the 
earth  ;  He  breaketh  the  bow,  and  cutteth  the  spear  in  sunder ;  He 
burneth  the  chariot  in  the  fire.  — Ps.  xlvi.  8,  9. 

God  hath  spoken  once ;  twice  h'ave  I  heard  this ;  that  power 
belongeth  unto  God.  —  Ps.  Ixii.  11. 

By  terrible  things  in  righteousness  wilt  thou  answer  us,  O  God 
of  our  salvation ;  who  art  the  confidence  of  all  the  ends  of  the 
earth  and  of  them  that  are  afar  off  upon  the  sea.  — Ps.  Ixv.  5. 

Thou,  O  God,  hast  proved  us,  thou  hast  tried  us  as  silver  is 
tried.  Thou  hast  caused  men  to  ride  over  our  heads ;  we  went 
through  fire  and  through  water :  but  thou  broughtest  us  out  into 
a  wealthy  place.  — Ps.  Ixvi.  10-12. 

God  bringeth  out  those  which  are  bound  with  chains  :  but  the 
11 


82  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

rebellious  dwell  in  a  dry  land,  and  his  enemies  shall  lick  the  dust. 

—  Ps.  Ixviii.  6;  Ixxii.  9. 

O  Lord  God  of  hosts,  thou  hast  scattered  thine  enemies  with  thy 
.strong  arm.  The  North  and  the  South,  thou  hast  created  them. 
Justice  and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  thy  throne  :  mercy  and 
truth  shall  go  before  thy  face.  —  Ps.  Ixxxix.  8,  10,  14. 

O  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  remembered  his  holy  prom- 
ise, and  Abraham  his  servant :  and  he  brought  forth  his  people 
with  joy  and  his  chosen  with  gladness.  And  gathered  them  out  of 
the  lands,  from  the  East,  and  from  the  West,  from  the  North,  and 
from  the  South,  and  led  them  forth  by  the  right  way.  For  He 
hath  broken  the  gates  of  brass,  and  cut  the  bars  of  iron  in  sunder. 

—  Ps.  cv.  1,  42,  43.      Ps.  cvii.  3,  7,  16.      Let  everything  that 
hath  breath  praise  the  Lord.  — Ps.  cl.  6. 

There  is  no  wisdom,  nor  understanding,  nor  counsel  against  the 
Lord.  — Prov.  xxi.  30.  The  Lord  killeth,  and  maketh  alive  :  He 
bringeth  down  to  the  grave,  and  he  bringeth  up.  He  raiseth  up 
the  poor  out  of  the  dust,  to  set  them  among  princes  :  for  the  pil- 
lars of  the  earth  are  the  Lord's,  and  he  hath  set  the  world  upon 
them.  He  will  keep  the  feet  of  his  saints ;  and  the  wicked  shall 
be  silent  in  darkness :  for  by  strength  shall  no  man  prevail.  —  1 
Sam.  ii.  6,  8,  9. 

Is  there  no.t  an  appointed  time  to  man  upon  earth  ?  are  not  his 
days  also  like  the  days  of  an  hireling?  —  Job  vii.  1. 

As  the  cloud  is  consumed  and  vanisheth  away,  so  he  that  goeth 
down  to  the  grave  shall  come  up  no  more.  He  shall  return  no 
more  to  his  house,  neither  shall  his  place  know  him  any  more.  — 
Job  vii.  9,  10. 

There  is  no  man  that  hath  power  over  the  spirit,  to  retain  the 
spirit ;  neither  hath  he  power  in  the  day  of  death  :  and  there  is  no 
discharge  in  that  war.  — Eccles.  viii.  8. 

Mark  the  perfect  man  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end  of  that 
man  is  peace.  — Ps.  xxxvii.  37. 


PROCESSION    AND    SERVICES  83 

Precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death  of  his  saints.  —  Ps. 
cxvi.  15. 

A  good  name  is  better  than  precious  ointment ;  and  the  day  of 
death  than  the  day  of  one's  birth.  — Eccles.  vii.  1. 

Blessed  are  they  that  mourn :  for  they  shall  be  comforted.  — 
Matt.  v.  4. 

Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled.  I  will  not  leave  you  comfort- 
less. Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give  unto  you.  Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid. — John  xiv.  1, 
18,  27.  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation  :  but  be  of  good 
cheer;  I  have  overcome  the  world. — John  xvi.  33.  I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life.  —  John  xi.  25. 

Whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord ;  and  whether  we  die, 
we  die  unto  the  Lord ;  whether  we  live,  therefore,  or  die,  we  are 
the  Lord's.  — Rom.  xiv.  8. 

Remember  now  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  while  the 
evil  days  come  not,  nor  the  years  draw  nigh,  when  thou  shalt  say 
I  have  no  pleasure  in  them  :  when  the  keepers  of  the  house  shall 
tremble,  and  the  strong  men  shall  bow  themselves,  and  the  grass- 
hopper shall  be  a  burden,  and  desire  shall  fail ;  because  man  goeth 
to  his  long  home  and  the  mourners  go  about  the  streets :  or  ever 
the  silver  cord  be  loosed,  or  the  golden  bowl  be  broken,  or  the 
pitcher  be  broken  at  the  fountain,  or  the  wheel  broken  at  the 
cistern.  Then  shall  the  dust  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was  :  and 
the  spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who  gave  it.  —  Eccles.  xiii.  1,  3, 
5,  6,  7. 

As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive.  — 
1  Cor.  xv.  22. 

I  am  persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor 
prinicipalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come, 
nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature  shall  be  able  to  sep- 
arate us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 
—  Rom.  viii.  38,  39. 


84  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

For  we  know  that,  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were 
dissolved  we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens.  —  2  Cor.  v.  1. 

And  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return,  and  come  to  Zion 
with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads  :  they  shall  obtain 
joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away.  —  Isa. 
xxx.  10. 

Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which 
according  to  his  abundant  mercy  hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a 
lively  hope,  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  to 
an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not 
away.  —  1  Pet.  i.  3,  4. 

The  choral  "  Cast  thy  Burdens  upon  the  Lord  "  was  sung. 

His  Honor  the  Mayor  then  introduced  the  Hon.  Charles  Sum- 
ner,  who  delivered  a  Eulogy.  At  the  conclusion,  the  following- 
hymn,  written  by  Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes,  was  sung :  — 

O  Thou  of  soul  and  sense  and  breath , 

The  ever  present  Giver, 
Unto  Thy  mighty  Angel,  Death, 

All  flesh  Thou  dost  deliver ; 
What  most  we  cherish  we  resign, 
For  life  and  death  alike  are  Thine, 

Who  reignest  Lord  forever ! 

Our  hearts  lie  buried  in  the  dust 

With  Him,  so  true  and  tender, 
The  patriot's  stay,  the  people's  trust, 

The  shield  of  the  offender ; 
Yet  every  murmuring  voice  is  still, 
As,  bowing  to  Thy  soverign  will, 

Our  best  loved  we  surrender. 


PROCESSION    AND    SERVICES.  85 

Dear  Lord,  with  pitying  eye  behold 

This  martyr  generation, 
Which  Thou,  through  trials  manifold, 

Art  shewing  Thy  salvation  ! 
O  let  the  blood  by  murder  spilt 
Wash  out  Thy  stricken  children's  guilt, 

And  sanctify  our  nation  ! 

Be  thou  Thy  orphaned  Israel's  friend, 

Forsake  Thy  people  never, 
In  One  our  broken  Many  blend, 

That  none  again  may  sever  ! 
Hear  us,  O  Father,  while  we  raise 
With  trembling  lips  our  song  of  praise, 

And  bless  Thy  name  forever  ! 

The  benediction  was  pronounced  by  Rev.  L.  A.  Grimes. 


MR.  SUMMER'S  EULOGY, 


CITY    OF    BOSTON. 


In  Common  Council,  June  2,  1865. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  presented  to 
HON.  CHARLES  SUMNER,  for  the  highly  eloquent,  and  truly 
patriotic  Eulogy,  delivered  by  him,  on  the  Life  and  Services  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  late  President  of  the  United  States;  —  and 
that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  said  Eulogy  for  publica- 
tion. 

Sent  up  for  concurrence. 

WM.    B.    FOWLE,  President. 

In  Board  of  Aldermen,  June  6,  1865. 
Concurred. 

G.    W.   MESSINGER,    Chairman. 

Approved  June  7,  1865. 

F.   W.   LINCOLN,  JR.  Mayor. 


EULOGY. 


IN  the  universe  of  God  there  are  no  accidents.  From 
the  fall  of  a  sparrow  to  the  fall  of  an  empire,  or  the 
sweep  of  a  planet,  all  is  according  to  Divine  Providence, 
whose  laws  are  everlasting.  It  was  no  accident  which 
gave  to  his  country  the  patriot  whom  we  now  honor.  It 
was  no  accident  which  snatched  this  patriot,  so  suddenly 
and  so  cruelly,  from  his  sublime  duties.  Death  is  as 
little  of  an  accident  as  life.  Perhaps  never  in  history  has 
this  Providence  been  more  conspicuous  than  in  that  recent 
procession  of  events,  where  the  final  triumph  was  wrapt 
in  the  gloom  of  tragedy.  It  will  be  our  duty  to  catch  the 
moral  of  this  stupendous  drama. 

For  the  second  time  in  our  annals,  the  country  has 
been  summoned  by  the  President  to  unite,  on  an  appoint- 
ed day,  in  commemorating  the  life  and  character  of 
the  dead.  The  first  was  on  the  death  of  GEORGE  WASH- 
INGTON, when,  as  now,  a  day  was  set  apart  for  simul- 
taneous eulogy  throughout  the  land,  and  cities,  towns, 
and  villages  all  vied  in  tribute.  More  than  half  a  century 
has  passed  since  this  early  observance  in  memory  of  the 


92  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Father  of  his  country,  and  now  it  is  repeated,  in  memory 
of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Thus  are  WASHINGTON  and  LINCOLN  associated  in  the 
grandeur  of  their  obsequies.  But  this  association  is  not 
accidental.  It  is  from  the  nature  of  things,  and  be- 
cause the  part  which  Lincoln  was  called  to  perform 
resembled  in  character  the  part  which  was  performed  by 
Washington.  The  work  left  undone  by  Washington  was 
continued  by  Lincoln.  Kindred  in  service,  kindred  in 
patriotism,  each  was  naturally  surrounded  at  death  by 
kindred  homage.  One  sleeps  in  the  East,  and  the  other 
sleeps  in  the  West ;  and  thus,  in  death,  as  in  life,  one 
is  the  complement  of  the  other. 

The  two  might  be  compared  after  the  manner  of  Plu- 
tarch ;  but  it  will  be  enough  for  the  present  if  we  glance 
only  at  certain  points  of  resemblance  and  of  contrast,  so 
as  to  recall  the  part  which  each  performed. 

Each  was  at  the  head  of  the  Republic  during  a  period 
of  surpassing  trial ;  and  each  thought  only  of  the  public 
good,  simply,  purely,  constantly,  so  that  single-hearted 
devotion  to  country  will  always  find  a  synonyme  in  their 
names.  Each  was  the  national  chief  during  a  time  of 
successful  war.  Each  was  the  representative  of  his  coun- 
try at  a  great  epoch  of  history.  But  here,  perhaps,  the 
resemblance  ends  and  the  contrast  begins.  Unlike  in 
origin,  conversation,  and  character,  they  were  unlike  also 
in  the  ideas  which  they  served,  except  as  each  was 
the  servant  of  his  country.  The  war  conducted  by 
Washington  was  unlike  the  war  conducted  by  Lincoln  — 
as  the  peace  which  crowned  the  arms  of  the  one  was 


MR.  BUHNER'S  EULOGY.  93 

unlike  the  peace  which  began  to  smile  upon  the  other. 
The  two  wars  did  not  differ  in  the  scale  of  operations, 
and  in  the  tramp  of  mustered  hosts,  more  than,  in  the 
ideas  involved.  The  iirst  was  for  National  Indepen- 
dence ;  the  second  was  to  make  the  Republic  one  and  in- 
divisible, on  the  indestructible  foundations  of  Liberty  and 
Equality.  The  first  only  cut  the  connection  with  the 
mother  country,  and  opened  the  way  to  the  duties  and 
advantages  of  Popular  Government.  The  second  will  have 
failed  unless  it  performs  all  the  original  promises  of  that 
Declaration  which  our  fathers  took  upon  their  lips  when  they 
became  a  Nation.  In  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  the 
first  was  the  natural  precursor  and  herald  of  the  second. 
National  Independence  was  the  first  epoch  in  our  history, 
and  such  was  its  importance  that  Lafayette  boasted  to  the 
First  Consul  of  France  that,  though  its  battles  were  but 
skirmishes,  they  decided  the  fate  of  the  world. 

The  Declaration  of  our  fathers,  which  was  entitled 
simply  "  the  unanimous  Declaration  of  the  Thirteen 
United  States  of  America,"  is  known  familiarly  as  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  because  the  remarkable 
words  with  which  it  concludes  made  independence  the 
absorbing  idea,  to  which  all  else  was  tributary.  Thus  did 
the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in 
General  Congress  assembled,  solemnly  publish  and 
declare  "  that  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right 
ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States ;  that  they 
are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and 
that  all  political  connection  between  them  and  the  State  of 
Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved  .  .  . 


94  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

and  for  the  support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a  firm  reli- 
ance in  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  we  mu- 
tually pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and 
our  sacred  honor."  To  sustain  this  mutual  pledge  Wash- 
ington drew  his  sword,  and  led  the  national  armies,  until 
at  last,  by  the  Treaty  of  Peace  in  1783,  Independence  was 
acknowledged. 

Had  the  Declaration  been  confined  to  this  pledge,  it 
would  have  been  less  important  than  it  was.  Much  as  it 
might  have  been  to  us,  it  would  have  been  less  of  a 
warning  and  trumpet-note  to  the  world.  There  were  two 
other  pledges  which  it  made.  One  was  proclaimed  in  the 
designation  "  United  States  of  America,"  which  it  adopted 
as  the  national  name,  and  the  other  was  proclaimed  in 
those  great  words,  fit  for  the  baptismal  vows  of  a  Eepublic : 
"  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident ;  that  all  men 
are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among  these  are 
life,  liberty;  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that  to  secure 
these  rights  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriv- 
ing their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.'1 
By  the  sword  of  Washington  Independence  was  secured  ; 
but  the  Unity  of  the  Republic  and  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  were  left  exposed  to  question.  From  that 
day  to  this,  through  various  chances,  they  have  been 
questioned,  and  openly  dishonored,  —  until  at  last  the  Re- 
public was  constrained  to  take  up  arms  in  their  defence. 
And  yet,  since  enmity  to  the  Union  proceeded  entirely 
from  enmity  to  the  great  ideas  of  the  Declaration,  history 
must  record  that  the  question  of  the  Union  itself  was 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  95 

absorbed  in  the  grander  conflict  to  uphold  those  primal 
truths  which  our  fathers  had  solemnly  proclaimed. 

Such  are  these  two  great  wars  in  which  these  two 
chiefs  bore  each  his  part.  Washington  fought  for  National 
Independence  and  triumphed,  —  making  his  country  an 
example  to  mankind.  Lincoln  drew  his  reluctant  sword 
to  save  those  great  ideas,  essential  to  the  life  and  character 
of  the  Republic,  which  unhappily  the  sword  of  Washing- 
ton had  failed  to  -put  beyond  the  reach  of  assault. 

It  was  by  no  accident  that  these  two  great  men  became 
the  representatives  of  their  country  at  these  two  different 
epochs,  so  alike  in  peril,  and  yet  so  unlike  in  the  praici- 
ples  involved.  Washington  was  the  natural  representa- 
tive of  National  Independence,  lie  might  also  have 
represented  national  Unity,  had  this  principle  been  chal- 
lenged to  bloody  battle  during  his  life ;  for  nothing  was 
nearer  his  heart  than  the  consolidation  of  our  Union, 
which,  in  his  letter  to  Congress  transmitting  the  Consti- 
tution, he  declared  to  be  "  the  greatest  interest  of  every 
true  American."  Then  again,  in  a  remarkable  letter  to 
John  Jay,  he  plainly  said  that  he  did  not  conceive  "  we 
can  exist  long  as  a  nation  without  lodging  somewhere 
a  power  which  will  pervade  the  Union  in  as  energetic 
a  manner  as  the  authority  of  the  State  governments 
extends  over  the  several  States."  But  another  person 
was  needed  of  different  birth  and  simpler  life  to  rep- 
resent the  ideas  which  were  now  assailed. 

Washington  was  of  a  family  which  may  be  traced  in 
English  heraldry.  Some  of  his  ancestors  sleep  in  close 
companionship  with  the  noble  name  of  Spencer.  By 


96  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Inheritance  and  marriage  he  was  rich  in  lands,  and,  let  it 
be  said  in  respectful  sorrow,  rich  also  in  slaves,  so  far  as 
slaves  breed  riches  rather  than  curses.  At  the  age  of 
fourteen  he  refused  a  commission  as  a  midshipman  in  the 
British  Navy.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  military 
inspector  with  the  rank  of  major.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  he  was  selected  by  the  British  Governor  of  Virginia 
as  Commissioner  to  the  French  posts.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-two  he  was  colonel  of  a  regiment,"and  was  thanked 
by  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  Virginia..  Early  in  life  he 
became  an  observer  of  form  and  ceremony.  Always 
strictly  just,  according  to  prevailing  principles,  and  order- 
ing at  his  death  the  emancipation  of  his  slaves,  he  was 
a  general  and  a  statesman  rather  than  a  philanthropist ; 
nor  did  he  seem  to  be  inspired,  beyond  the  duties  of  patri- 
otism, to  any  active  sympathy  with  Human  Rights.  In 
the  ample  record  of  what  he  wrote  or  said  there  is  no  word 
of  adhesion  to  the  great  ideas  of  the  Declaration.  Such 
an  origin  —  such  an  early  life — such  opportunities — such 
a  condition  —  such  a  character,  were  all  in  contrast  with 
the  origin,  the  early  life,  the  opportunities,  the  condition, 
and  the  character  of  him  whom  we  commemorate  to-day. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  born,  and  until  he  became  Presi- 
dent, always  lived  in  a  part  of  the  country  which  at  the 
period  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  a  savage 
wilderness.  Strange  but  happy  Providence,  that  a  voice 
from  that  savage  wilderness,  now  fertile  in  men,  was 
inspired  to  uphold  the  pledges  and  promises  of  the 
Declaration !  The  Unity  of  the  Republic  on  the  inde- 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  97 

structible  foundation  of  Liberty  and  Equality  was  vindi- 
cated by  the  citizen  of  a  community,  which  had  no  exist- 
ence when  the  Republic  was  formed. 

His  family  may  be  traced  to  a  Quaker  stock  in  Penn- 
sylvania, but  it  removed  first  to  Virginia,  and  then,  as 
early  as  1780,  to  the  wilds  of  Kentucky,  which  at  that 
time  was  only  an  outlying  territory  belonging  to  Virginia. 
His  grandfather  and  father  both  lived  in  peril  from 
the  Indians,  and  the  former  perished  by  their  hands. 
The  future  President  was  born  in  a  log-house.  His 
mother  could  read  but  not  write.  His  father  could  do 
neither,  except  so  far  as  to  sign  his  name  rudely,  like 
a  noble  of  Charlemagne.  Trial,  privation,  and  labor 
entered  into  his  early  life.  Only  at  seven  years  of  age 
was  he  able  to  go  to  school  for  a  very  brief  period,  carry- 
ing with  him  Dil worth's  Spelling  Book,  which  was  one  of 
the  three  volumes  that  formed  the  family  library.  Shortly 
afterwards  his  father  turned  his  back  upon  that  Slavery 
which  disfigured  Kentucky,  and  placing  his  poor  effects 
on  a  raft  which  his  son  had  helped  him  construct,  set  his 
face  towards  Indiana,  which  was  guarded  against  Slavery 
by  the  famous  Ordinance  for  the  Northwestern  Terri- 
tory. In  this  painful  journey  the  son,  who  was  only 
eight  years  old,  bore  his  share  of  the  burdens.  On  reach- 
ing the  chosen  home  in  a  land  of  Liberty,  the  son  aided 
the  father  in  building  the  cabin,  composed  of  logs  fast- 
ened together  by  notches,  and  filled  in  with  mud,  where 
for  twelve  years  afterwards  he  grew  in  character  and  in 
knowledge,  as  in  stature,  learning  to  write  as  well  as  to 
read,  and  especially  enjoying  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress, 

13 


98  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

^Esop's  Fables,  Weems's  Life  of  Washington,  and  the  Life 
of  Clay.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  lost  his  mother.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  he  became  a  hired  hand  at  $10  a  month 
on  a  flatboat,  laden  with  stores  for  the  plantations  on  the 
Mississippi,  and  in  this  way  he  floated  down  that  lordly 
river  to  New  Orleans,  little  dreaming  that  only  a  few 
years  later,  iron-clad  navies  would  float  on  that  same 
lordly  river  at  his  command.  Here  also  he  was  a  learner. 
From  the  slaves  which  he  saw  on  the  banks  he  took  an 
early  lesson  of  Liberty,  which  had  new  charms  in  contrast 
with  Slavery. 

In  1830,  the  father  removed  to  Illinois,  transporting  his 
effects  in  wagons  drawn  by  oxen,  and  the  future  President, 
who  was  then  twenty-one  years  of  age,  drove  one  of  the 
teams.  Another  cabin  was  built  in  primitive  rudeness, 
and  the  future  President  split  the  rails  for  the  fence  to 
enclose  the  lot.  These  rails  have  become  classical  in  our 
history,  and  the  name  of  rail-splitter  has  been  more  than 
the  degree  of  a  college.  Not  that  the  splitter  of  rails  is 
especially  meritorious,  but  because  the  people  are  proud 
to  trace  aspiring  talent  to  humble  beginnings,  and  because 
they  found  in  this  tribute  a  new  opportunity  of  vindicating 
the  dignity  of  free  labor,  and  of  repelling  the  insolent 
pretensions  of  Slavery. 

His  youth  was  now  spent,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one, 
he  left  his  father's  house  to  begin  the  world  for  himself.  A 
small  bundle,  a  laughing  face,  and  an  honest  heart;  these 
were  his  simple  possessions,  together  with  that  unconscious 
character  and  intelligence,  which  his  country  afterwards 
learned  to  prize.  In  the  long  history  of  "  worth  de- 


MR.  SUMMER'S  EULOGY.  99 

pressed,"  there  is  no  instance  of  such  a  contrast  between 
the  depression  and  the  triumph  —  unless,  perhaps,  his 
successor  as  President  may  share  with  him  this  distinction. 
No  Academy,  no  University,  no  Alma  Mater  of  science  or 
learning  had  nourished  him.  No  government  had  taken 
him  by  the  hand  and  given  to  him  the  gift  of  opportunity. 
No  inheritance  of  land  or  money  had  fallen  to  him.  No 
friend  stood  by  his  side.  He  was  alone  in  poverty ;  and 
yet  not  all  alone.  There  was  God  above,  who  watches  all, 
and  does  not  desert  the  lowly.  Plain  in  person,  life,  and 
manners,  and  knowing  nothing  of  form  or  ceremony,  with 
a  village  schoolmaster  for  six  months  as  his  only  teacher, 
he  had  grown  up  in  companionship  with  the  people,  with 
nature,  with  trees,  with  the  fruitful  corn,  and  with  the 
stars.  While  yet  a  child,  his  father  had  borne  him  away 
from  a  soil  wasted  by  Slavery,  and  he  was  now  the  citizen 
of  a  Free  State,  where  Free  Labor  had  been  placed  under 
the  safeguard  of  irreversible  compact  and  fundamental 
law.  And  thus  he  took  leave  of  youth,  happy  at  least 
that  he  could  go  forth  under  the  day-star  of  Liberty. 

The  hardships  of  youth  were  still  continued  in  early 
manhood.  He  labored  as  a  hired  hand  on  a  farm,  and 
then  a  second  time  he  measured  the  winding  Mississippi 
to  New  Orleans  in  a  flatboat.  At  the  call  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Illinois  for  troops  against  the  Indian  Chief  Black 
Hawk,  he  sprang  forward  with  patriotic  ardor,  and  was 
the  first  to  enlist  at  the  recruiting  station  in  his  neighbor- 
hood. The  choice  of  his  associates  made  him  captain. 
After  the  war  he  became  a  surveyor,  and  down  to  his 
death  retained  a  practical  and  scientific  knowledge  of  this 


100  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

business.  In  1834,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of 
Illinois,  and  two  years  later  he  was  admitted  to  the  practice 
of  the  law.  He  was  now  twenty-seven  years  old,  and,  under 
the  benignant  influence  of  Republican  Institutions,  he  had 
already  entered  upon  the  double  career  of  a  lawyer  and  a 
legislator,  with  the  gates  of  the  mysterious  Future  slowly 
opening  before  him. 

How  well  he  served  in  these  two  characters  I  pause 
not  to  tell.  It  is  enough  if  I  exhibit  the  stages  of 
his  advance,  that  you  may  understand  how  he  became 
the  representative  of  his  country  at  so  grand  a  moment 
of  history.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  his  opportunities 
of  study  as  a  lawyer  must  have  been  small,  but  he 
was  industrious  in  each  individual  case,  and  thus  daily 
added  to  his  stores  of  professional  experience.  Faithful 
in  all  things,  most  conscientious  in  his  conduct  at  the 
bar,  so  that  he  could  not  be  unfair  to  the  other  side, 
and  admirably  sensitive  to  the  behests  of  justice,  so  that 
he  could  not  argue  on  the  wrong  side,  he  acquired 
a  name  for  honesty,  which,  beginning  with  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lived,  became  proverbial  through- 
out his  State ;  while  his  genial,  mirthful,  overflowing 
nature,  apt  at  anecdote  and  story,  made  him  a  favor- 
ite companion  where  he  was  personally  known.  His 
opinions  on  public  questions  were  early  fixed,  under  the 
example  and  teachings  of  Henry  Clay,  and  he  never 
departed  from  them,  though  constantly  tempted,  or 
pressed  by  local  majorities,  speaking  in  the  name  of 
a  false  democracy.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  thus 
early  he  espoused  those  two  ideas,  which  entered  so 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  101 

largely  into  the  terrible  responsibilities  of  his  latter 
years,  —  I  mean  the  Unity  of  the  Republic,  and  the 
supreme  value  of  Liberty.  He  did  not  believe  that 
a  State  had  a  right,  at  its  own  mad  will,  to  break  up 
this  Union.  As  a  reader  of  congressional  speeches,  and 
a  student  of  what  was  said  by  the  political  teachers 
of  that  day,  he  was  no  stranger  to  those  marvellous 
efforts  of  Daniel  Webster,  when  in  reply  to  the  treas- 
onable pretensions  of  nullification,  that  great  orator  of 
Massachusetts  asserted  the  indestructibility  of  the  Union, 
and  the  folly  of  those  who  would  assail  it.  On  the 
subject  of  Slavery,  he  drew  from  the  experience  of  his 
own  family  and  the  warnings  of  his  own  conscience. 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  one  of  his  earliest  acts 
in  the  legislature  of  Illinois  should  be  a  protest  in  the 
name  of  Liberty. 

At  a  later  day,  he  became  a  representative  in  Congress 
for  a  single  term,  beginning  in  December  1847,  being 
the  only  Whig  representative  from  Illinois.  His  speeches 
during  this  brief  period  have  many  of  the  characteristics 
of  his  later  productions.  They  are  argumentative,  logical, 
and  spirited,  with  that  quaint  humor  and  sinewy  senten- 
tiousness  which  belonged  to  his  nature.  His  votes  were 
constant  against  Slavery.  For  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  he  had 
voted,  according  to  his  own  statement,  "  in  one  way  and 
another  about  forty  times."  His  vote  is  recorded  against 
the  pretence  that  slaves  were  property  under  the  constitu- 
tion. From  Congress  he  again  passed  to  his  profession. 
The  day  was  at  hand,  when  all  his  powers,  enlarged  by 
experience  and  quickened  to  their  highest  activity,  would 


102  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN.          • 

be  needed  to  repel  that  haughty  domination  which  was 
already  undermining  the  Republic. 

The  first  field  of  conflict  was  in  his  own  State,  with  no 
less  an  antagonist  than  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  unhappily  at 
that  time  in  alliance  with  the  Slave  Power.  The  too 
famous  ^Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill,  introduced  by  him 
into  the  Senate,  assumed  to  set  aside  the  venerable  safe- 
guard of  freedom  in  the  territory  west  of  Missouri,  under 
the  pretence  of  allowing  the  inhabitants  "  to  vote  Slavery 
up  or  to  vote  it  down  "  according  to  their  pleasure,  and 
this  barbarous  privilege  was  called  by  the  fancy  name 
of  Popular  Sovereignty.  The  future  President  did  not 
hesitate  to  denounce  this  most  baleful  measure  in  a  series 
of  popular  addresses,  where  truth,  sentiment,  humor,  and 
argument  all  were  blended.  As  the  conflict  continued,  he 
was  brought  forward  as  a  candidate  for  the  Senate  against 
its  able  author.  The  debate  that  ensued  is  one  of  the 
most  memorable  in  our  political  history,  whether  w-e 
consider  the  principles  involved,  or  the  way  in  which  it 
was  conducted. 

It  commenced  with  a  close,  well-woven  speech  from 
the  Republican  champion,  in  which  he  used  words  which 
showed  his  insight  into  the  actual  condition  of  things, 
as  follows  :  "  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand. 
I  believe  this  Government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union 
to  be  dissolved,  —  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall,  — 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will 
become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the  other."  Only  a  few 
days  before  his  death,  when  I  asked  him  if  at  the  time 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  103 

he  had  any  doubt  about  this  remark,  he  replied,  "  Not 
in  the  least.  It  was  clearly  true,  and  time  has  justified 
me."  With  like  plainness  he  exposed  the  Douglas  pre- 
tence of  Popular  Sovereignty  as  meaning  simply  "  that 
if  any  one  man  shall  choose  to  enslave  another,  no 
third  man  shall  be  allowed  to  object,"  and  he  an- 
nounced his  belief  in  "the  existence  of  a  conspiracy 
to  perpetuate  and  nationalize  Slavery,"  of  which  the 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill,  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
were  essential  parts.  Such  was  the  character  of  this 
debate  at  the  beginning,  and  so  it  continued  on  the 
lips  of  our  champion  to  the  end. 

But  the  inevitable  topic  to  which  he  returned 
with  the  most  frequency,  and  to  which  he  clung  with 
all  the  grasp  of  his  soul,  was  the  practical  character 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  announcing  the 
Liberty  and  Equality  of  all  men.  These  were  no  idle 
words,  but  substantial  truth,  binding  on  the  conscience 
of  mankind.  I  know  not  if  this  grand  pertinacity  has 
been  noticed  before  ;  but  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  say, 
that  to  my  mind  it  is  by  far  the  most  important  incident 
of  that  controversy,  and  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
in  the  biography  of  the  speaker.  Nothing  previous  to 
his  nomination  for  the  Presidency  is  comparable  to  it. 
Plainly  his  whole  subsequent  career  took  its  impulse 
and  character  from  that  championship.  And  here  too 
is  our  first  debt  of  gratitude.  The  words  which  he  then 
uttered  live  after  him,  and  nobody  can  hear  how  he 
then  battled  without  feeling  a  new  motive  to  fidelity  in 
the  cause  of  Human  Rights. 


104  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

As  early  as  1854,  in  a  speech  at  Peoria,  against  the 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill,  after  denouncing  Slavery  as  a 
"  monstrous  injustice,"  which  .enables  the  enemies  of  free 
institutions  to  taunt  us  as  hypocrites,  and  causes  the  real 
friends  of  freedom  to  doubt  our  sincerity,  he  complains 
especially  that  "  it  forces  so  many  really  good  men 
amongst  ourselves  into  an  open  war  with  the  very  funda- 
mental principles  of  civil  liberty ',  criticising  the  Declaration 
of  Independence"  Thus,  according  to  him,  was  criticism 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  the  climax  of  infidel- 
ity as  a  citizen. 

Mr.  Douglas  opened  the  debate  on  his  side  July  9, 
1858,  at  Chicago,  by  a  speech,  in  which  he  said,  among 
other  things,  "  I  am  opposed  to  negro  equality.  I  repeat, 
that  this  Nation  is  a  white  people.  I  am  opposed  to  tak- 
ing any  step  that  recognizes  the  negro  man  or  the  Indian 
as  the  equal  of  the  white  man.  I  am  "opposed  to  giving 
him  a  voice  in  the  administration  of  the  Government." 
Thus  was  the  case  stated  on  the  side  of  Slavery. 

To  this  speech  the  Republican  candidate  replied  the 
next  evening,  and  he  did  not  forget  his  championship  of 
the  Declaration.  After  quoting  the  words  "  we  hold 
these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created 
equal,"  he  proceeds  to  say :  — 

"That  is  the  electric  cord  in  the  Declaration  that  links  the 
hearts  of  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  men  together,  that  will  link 
those  patriotic  and  liberty -loving  men  together  as  long  as  the  love 
of  freedom  exists  in  the  minds  of  men  throughout  the  world.  .  .  . 
I  should  like  to  know  if  taking  this  old  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, which  declares  that  all  men  are  equal  upon  principle,  and 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  105 

• 

making  exceptions,  where  will  it  stop?  If  one  man  says  it  does 
not  mean  the  negro,  why  not  another  say  it  does  not  mean  some 
other  man?  If  that  Declaration  is  not  the  truth,  let  us  get  the 
Statute-bdok  in  which  we  find  it  and  tear  it  out !  Who  is  so  bold 
as  to  do  it?  If  it  is  not  true,  let  us  tear  it  out  [cries  of  "no, 
no  "  ]  ;  let  us  slick  to  it  then  ;  let  us  stand  firmly  by  it  then." 

Noble  words !  worthy  of  perpetual  memory.  And  he 
finished  his  speech  on  this  occasion  by  saying :  — 

"  I  leave  you,  hoping  that  the  lamp  of  Liberty  will  burn  in 
your  bosoms  until  there  shall  no  longer  be  a  doubt  that  all  men 
are  created  free  and  equal." 

He  has  left  us  now,  and  for  the  last  time,  and  I  catch 
the  closing  benediction  of  that  speech,  already  sounding 
through  the  ages,  like  a  choral  harmony. 

The  debate  continued  from  place  to  place  in  Illinois. 
At  Bloomington,  July  16,  1858,  Mr.  Douglas  again  de- 
nied that  colored  persons  could  be  citizens,  and  then 
broke  forth  upon  the  champion  of  the  Declaration. 

"  I  will  not  quarrel  with  Mr.  Lincoln  for  his  views  on  that 
subject.  I  have  no  doubt  he  is  conscientious  in  them.  I  have  not 
the  slightest  idea  but  that  he  conscientiously  believes  that  a  negro 
ought  to  enjoy  and  exercise  all  the  rights  and  privileges  given  to 
white  men  ;  but  I  do  not  agree  with  him.  I  believe  that  this  Gov- 
ernment of  ours  was  founded  on  the  white  basis.  I  believe  that  it  was 
established  by  white  men.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  was  the  design 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  or  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  to  include  negroes,  Indians,  or  other  inferior 
races,  with  white  men  as  citizens.  .  .  .  He  wants  them  to 
vole.  I  am  opposed  to  it.  If  they  had  a  vote,  I  reckon  they  would 
all  vote  for  him  in  preference  to  me,  entertaining  the  views  I  do  /" 
H 


106  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

Then  again,  in  another  speech  at  Springfield,  the  next 
day,  Mr.  Douglas  repeated  his  denial  that  the  colored 
man  was  embraced  by  the  Declaration,  and  thus  argued 
for  the  exclusion  :  — 

•  "Remember  that  at  the  time  the  Declaration  was  put  forth, 
every  one  of  the  thirteen  colonies  were  slaveholding  colonies,  — 
every  man  who  signed  that  Declaration  represented  slaveholding 
constitutents.  Did  these  signers  mean  by  that  act  to  charge  them- 
selves and  all  their  constitutents  with  having  violated  the  law  of 
God  in  holding  the  negro  in  an  inferior  condition  to  the  white 
man?  And  yet,  if  they  included  negroes  in  that  term,  they  were 
bound,  as  conscientious  men,  that  day  and  that  hour,  not  only  to 
have  abolished  Slavery  throughout  the  land,  but  to  have  conferred 
political  rights  and  privileges  on  the  negro  and  elevated  him  to  an 
equality  with  the  white  man.  .  .  .  The  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence only  included  the  white  people  of  the  United  States." 

On  the  same  evening,  at  Springfield,  the  champion  of 
the  Declaration,  while  admitting  that  negroes  are  not 
"  our  equals  in  color,"  thus  again  spoke  for  the  compre- 
hensive humanity  of  the  Declaration  :  — 

"  I  adhere  to  the  Declaration.  If  Judge  Douglas  and  his  friends 
are  not  willing  to  stand  by  it,  let  them  come  up  and  amend  it.  Let 
them  make  it  read  that  all  men  are  created  equal  except  negroes. 
Let  us  have  it  decided,  whether  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
in  this  blessed  year  of  1858,  shall  be  thus  amended.  In  his  con- 
struction of  the  Declaration  last  year,  he  said  it  only  meant  that 
Americans  in  America  were  equal  to  Englishmen  in  England. 
Then,  when  I  pointed  out  to  him  that  by  that  rule  he  excludes  the 
Germans,  the  Irish,  the  Portuguese,  and  all  the  other  people  who 
have  come  among  us  since  the  Revolution,  he  reconstructs  his  con- 


MR.  SUMMER'S  EULOGY.  107 

struction.  In  his  last  speech  he  tells  us  it  meant  Europeans.  I 
press  him  a  little  further,  and  ask  him  if  it  meant  to  include 
the  Russians  in  Asia !  Or  does  he  mean  to  exclude  that  vast 
population  from  the  principles  of  the  Declaration?  I  expect  ere- 
long he  will  introduce  another  amendment  to  his  definition.  He  is 
not  at  all  particular.  It  may  draw  white  men  down,  but  it  must  not 
lift  negroes  up." 

Words  like  these  must  be  gratefully  remembered. 
They  make  the  Declaration,  what  the  fathers  intended  it, 
no  mean  proclamation  of  oligarchic  egotism,  but  a  charter 
and  freehold  for  all  mankind. 

Again,  at  Ottawa,  August  21,  1858,  Mr.  Douglas,  still 
wishing  to  exclude  the  colored  men  from  the  Declaration, 
exclaimed  as  follows :  — 

"  I  believe  this  Government  was  made  on  the  white  basis.  I 
believe  it  was  made  by  white  men,  for  the  benefit  of  white  men  and 
their  posterity  forever." 

The  Republican  champion  again  took  up  the  strain, 
as  follows :  — 

"  Henry  Clay  once  said  of  a  class  of  men  who  would  repress  all 
tendencies  to  liberty  and  ultimate  emancipation,  that  they  must, 
if  they  would  do  this,  go  back  to  the  era  of  our  independence,  and 
muzzle  the  cannon,  which  thunders  its  annual  joyous  return;  they 
must  blow  out  the  moral  lights  around  us ;  they  must  penetrate  the 
human  soul,  and  eradicate  there  the  love  of  liberty :  and  then,  and 
not  till  then,  can  they  perpetuate  Slavery  in  this  country  !  To  my 
thinking,  Judge  Douglas  is,  by  his  exaniple  and  vast  influence, 
doing  that  very  thing  in  this  community,  when  he  says  that  the 
negro  has  nothing  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 


108  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

At  Jonesboro,  September  15,  1858,  Mr.  Douglas  made 
another  effort  against  the  rights  of  the  colored  race,  in 
the  course  of  which  he  said  :  — 

"I  am  aware  that  all  the  abolition  lecturers  that  you  find 
travelling  through  the  country,  are  in  the  habit  of  reading  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  to  prove  that  all  men  were  created 
equal  and  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights, 
among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  Mr. 
Lincoln  is  very  much  in  the  habit  of  following  in  the  track  of  Love- 
joy  in  this  particular,  by  reading  that  part  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  to  prove  that  the  negro  was  endowed  by  the 
Almighty  with  the  inalienable  right  of  equality  with  white  men. 
Now,  I  say  to  you,  my  fellow-citizens,  that,  in  my  opinion,  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  had  no  reference  to  the  negro  whatever, 
when  they  declared  all  men  to  be  created  equal." 

At  Galesborough,  October  7,  1858,  his  opponent  thus 
again  upheld  the  Declaration  :  — 

"The  Judge  has  alluded  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  insisted  that  negroes  are  not  included  in  that  Declaration  ;  and 
that  it  is  a  slander  upon  the  framers  of  thai  instrument,  to  suppose 
that  negroes  were  meant  therein ;  and  he  asks  you,  is  it  possible 
to  believe  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  penned  the  immortal  paper, 
could  have  supposed  himself  applying  the  language  of  that  instru- 
ment to  the  negro  race,  and  yet  held  a  portion  of  that  race  in 
slavery?  Would  he  not  at  once  have  freed  them?  I  only  have 
to  remark  upon  this  part  of  the  Judge's  speech,  that  I  believe  the 
entire  record  of  the  world,  from  the  date  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  up  to  within  three  years  ago,  may  be  searched  in 
vain  for  one  single  affirmation  from  one  single  man,  that  the 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  109 

negro  was  not  included  in  the  Declaration.  And. I  will  remind 
Judge  Douglas  and  this  audience,  that  while  Mr.  Jefferson  waa 
the  owner  of  slaves,  as  undoubtedly  he  was,  in  speaking  upon  this 
very  subject,  he  used  the  strong  language,  that  "  he  trembled  for 
his  country  when  he  remembered  that  God  was  just." 

And  at  Alton,  October  15,  1858,  he  renewed  this  same 
testimony :  — 

* '  I  assert  that  Judge  Douglas  and  all  his  friends  may  search  the 
whole  record  of  the  country,  and  it  will  be  a  matter  of  great  aston- 
ishment to  me  if  they  shall  be  able  to  find  that  one  human  being 
three  years  ago  had  ever  uttered  the  astounding  sentiment  that  the 
term  "all  men"  in  the  Declaration  did  not  include  the  negro. 
Do  not  let  me  be  misunderstood.  I  know  that  more  than  three 
years  ago,  there  were  men  who,  finding  this  assertion  constantly 
in  the  way  of  their  schemes  to  bring  about  the  ascendency  and 
perpetuation  of  Slavery,  denied  the  truth  of  it.  I  know  that  Mr. 
Calhoun,  and  all  the  politicians  of  his  school,  denied  the  truth  of 
the  Declaration,  ending  at  last  in  that  shameful  declaration  of  Petit 
of  Indiana,  upon  the  floor  of  the  United  States  Senate,  that  the 
Declaration  was,  in  that  respect,  a  "  self-evident  lie"  rather  than  a 
self-evident  truth.  But  I  say,  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  all  this 
hawking  at  the  Declaration  without  directly  attacking  it,  that  three 
years  ago  there  never  had  lived  a  man  who  had  ventured  to  assail 
it  in  the  sneaking  way  of  pretending  to  believe  it,  and  then  asserting 
that  it  did  not  include  the  negro" 

Lifted  by  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged,  he 
appealed  to  his  fellow-countrymen  in  tones  of  pathetic 
eloquence  :  — 

"  Think  nothing  of  me;  take  no  thought  for  the  political  fate 


110  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

of  any  man  whatsoever,  but  come  back  to  the  truths  that  are  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  You  may  do  anything  with  me 
you  choose  if  you  will  but  heed  these  sacred  principles.  You  may 
not  only  defeat  me  for  the  Senate,  but  you  may  take  me  and  put  me 
to  death.  While  pretending  no  indifference  to  earthly  honors,  I  do 
claim  to  be  actuated  in  this  contest  by  something  higher  than  an 
anxiety  for  office.  I  charge  you  to  drop  every  paltry,  insignificant 
thought  for  any  man's  success.  It  is  nothing.  I  am  nothing. 
Judge  Douglas  is  nothing.  But  do  not  destroy  that  immortal  emblem 
of  humanity  —  the  Declaration  of  Independence ." 

Thus,  at  that  early  day,  before  war  had  overshadowed 
the  land,  was  he  ready  for  the  sacrifice.  "  Take  me  and 
put  me  to  death,"  said  he,  "  but  do  not  destroy  that 
immortal  emblem  of  humanity — the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence." He  has  been  put  to  death  by  the  enemies  of 
the  Declaration.  But  though  dead,  he  will  continue  to 
guard  that  great  title-deed  of  the  human  race. 

The  debate  ended.  An  immense  vote  was  cast.  There 
were  126,084  votes  for  the  republican  candidates,  121,940 
for  the  Douglas  candidates,  and  5,091  for  the  Lecompton 
candidates,  another  class  of  democrats ;  but  the  support- 
ers of  Mr.  Douglas  had  a  majority  of  eight  on  joint  ballot 
in  the  legislature,  and  he  was  reelected  to  the  Senate. 

Again  returned  to  his  profession,  our  champion  still 
cherished  the  Declaration.  In  answer  to  the  Eepub- 
licans  of  Boston,  who  had  invited  him  to  unite  with 
them  in  the  celebration  of  the  birthday  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  he  wrote  a  letter,  under  date  of  April,  1859, 
which  is  a  gem  in  political  literature,  where  he  again 
asserted  the  supremacy  of  those  truths  for  which  he 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  Ill 

had  battled  so  well.  In  him  the  West  thus  spoke  to 
the  East,  pleading  for  Human  Rights,  as  declared  by  our 
Fathers :  — 

""But  soberly,  it  is  now  no  child's  play  to  save  the  principles 
of  Jefferson  from  total  overthrow  in  this  nation. 

"  One  would  state  with  great  confidence  that  he  could  convince 
any  sane  child  that  the  simpler  propositions  of  Euclid  are  true ; 
but,  nevertheless,  he  would  fail  with  one  who  should  deny  the 
definitions  and  axioms.  The  principles  of  Jefferson  are  the  defi- 
nitions and  axioms  of  free  society.  And  yet  they  are  denied  and 
evaded  with  no  small  show  of  success.  One  dashingly  calls  them 
*  glittering  generalities.'  Another  bluntly  styles  them  <  self-evident 
lies.'  And  others  insidiously  argue  that  they  apply  only  to  « su- 
perior races.' 

"These  expressions,  differing  in  form,  are  identical  in  object 
and  effect  —  the  supplanting  the  principles  of  free  government, 
and  restoring  those  of  classification,  caste,  and  legitimacy.  They 
would  delight  a  convocation  of  crowned  heads  plotting  against 
the  people.  They  are  the  vanguard,  the  sappers  and  miners  of 
returning  despotism.  We  must  repulse  them,  or  they  will  sub- 
jugate us. 

"  This  is  a  world  of  compensation;  and  he  who  would  be  no 
slave  must  consent  to  have  no  slave.  Those  who  deny  freedom 
to  others  deserve  it  not  for  themselves ;  and,  under  a  just  God, 
cannot  long  retain  it. 

"All  honor  to  Jefferson  —  the  man  who,  in  the  concrete  pres- 
sure of  a  struggle  for  national  independence  by  a  single  people, 
had  the  coolness,  forecast,  and. capacity  to  introduce  into  a  merely 
revolutionary  document  an  abstract  truth,  applicable  to  all  men  and 
all  limes,  and  so  to  embalm  it  there,  that  to-day,  and  in  all  com- 
ing days,  it  shall  be  a  rebuke  and  a  stumbling-block  to  the  har- 
bingers of  reappearing  tyranny  and  oppression  !  " 


112  MEMORIAL    OF   PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

In  the  winter  of  next  year  the  Western  champion  ap- 
peared at  New  York ;  and,  in  a  remarkable  address  at  the 
Cooper  Institute,  February  27,  1860,  vindicated  the  policy 
of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic  and  the  principles  of  the 
Republican  party.  After  showing  with  curious  skill  and 
minuteness  the  original  understanding  on  the  power  of 
Congress  over  Slavery  in  the  territories,  he  demonstrated 
that  the  Republican  party  was  not  in  any  just  sense  sec- 
tional ;  and  he  proceeded  to  expose  the  perils  from  the 
pretensions  of  slave-masters,  who,  not  content  with  requir- 
ing that  "  we  must  arrest  and  return  their  slaves  with 
greedy  pleasure,"  insisted  that  the  Constitution  must  be 
so  interpreted  as  to  uphold  the  idea  of  property  in  man. 
The  whole  address  was  in  a  subdued  and  argumentative 
style,  while  each  sentence  was  like  a  driven  nail,  with  a 
concluding  rally  that  was  a  bugle-call  to  the  lovers  of 
right.  "  Let  us  have  faith,"  said  he,  "  that  right  makes 
might,  and  in  that  faith,  let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do 
our  duty  as  we  understand  it." 

A  few  months  later  this  champion  of  the  right,  who 
would  not  see  the  colored  man  shut  out  from  the  promises 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  who  insisted 
upon  the  exclusion  of  Slavery  from  the  territories,  after 
summoning  his  countrymen  to  dare  to  do  their  duty,  was 
nominated  by  a  great  political  party  as  their  candidate 
for  President  of  the  United  States.  Local  considerations, 
securing  to  him  the  support  of  certain  States  beyond  any 
other  candidate,  exercised  a  final  influence  in  deter- 
mining his  selection ;  but  it  is  easy  to  see  how,  from 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  113 

position,  character,  and  origin,  he  was  at  that  moment 
especially  the  representative  of  his  country.  The  Unity 
of  the  Republic  was  menaced.  He  was  from  that  vast 
controlling  Northwest,  which  would  never  renounce  its 
communications  with  the  sea,  whether  by  the  Mississippi 
or  by  eastern  avenues.  The  birthday  Declaration  of  the 
Republic  was  dishonored,  in  the  denial  of  its  primal 
truths.  He  had  already  become  known  as  a  volunteer 
in  its  defence.  Republican  Institutions  were  in  jeopardy. 
He  was  the  child  of  humble  life,  through  whom  Repub- 
lican Institutions  would  stand  confest.  These  things 
which  are  so  obvious  now,  in  the  light  of  history,  were 
less  apparent  then  in  the  turmoil  of  party.  But  that 
Providence,  in  whose  hands  are  the  destinies  of  nations, 
which  had  found  out  Washington  to  conduct  his  country 
through  the  war  of  Independence,  now  found  out  Lin- 
coln to  wage  the  new  battle  for  the  Unity  of  the  Re- 
public on  the  foundations  of  Human  Rights. 

The  election  took  place.  Of  the  popular  vote,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  received  1,857,610,  represented  by  180 
electoral  ballots ;  Stephen  A.  Douglas  received  1,365,- 
976,  represented  by  12  electoral  ballots ;  John  C.  Breck- 
enridge  received  847,953,  represented  by  72  electoral 
ballots;  and  John  Bell  received  590,631,  represented  by 
39  electoral  ballots.  By  this  vote  Abraham  Lincoln  be- 
came President.  The  triumph  at  the  ballot-box  was 
flashed  by  the  telegraph  over  the  whole  country,  from 
north  to  south,  from  east  to  west ;  but  it  was  answered 
by  defiance  from  the  slavemasters,  speaking  in  the  name 
of  State  Rights  and  for  the  sake  of  Slavery.  The  declared 


114  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

will  of  the  ,  American  people,  registered  at  the  ballot- 
box,  was  set  at  naught.  The  conspiracy  of  years  blazed 
into  day.  The  National  Goyernment,  which  Alexander 
H.  Stephens  characterized  as  "  the  best  and  freest  gov- 
ernment, the  most  equal  in  its  rights,  the  most  just  in 
its  decisions,  the  most  lenient  in  its  measures,  the  most 
aspiring  in  its  principles  to  elevate  the  race  of  man  that 
the  sun  of  heaven  ever  shone  upon ; "  and  which  Jeffer- 
son Davis  himself  pronounced  "  the  best  government 
that  has  ever  been  instituted  by  man,"  —  that  National 
Government,  whose  portrait  is  thus  drawn  by  its  ene- 
mies, was  defied.  South  Carolina  was  the  'first  in  crime, 
and  before  the  elected  champion  had  turned  his  face 
from  the  beautiful  prairies  of  the  West  to  enter  upon  his 
dangerous  duties,  State  after  State  had  undertaken  to  aban- 
don its  place  in  the  Union,  —  senator  after  senator  had 
dropped  from  his  seat,  —  fort  after  fort  had  been  lost, 
—  and  the  mutterings  of  war  had  begun  to  fill  the  air, 
while  the  actual  President,  besotted  by  Slavery?  tranquilly 
witnessed  the  gigantic  treason,  as  he  sat  at  ease  in  the 
Executive  Mansion  —  and  did  nothing. 

It  was  time  for  another  to  come  upon  the  scene.  You 
do  not  forget  how  the  new  President  left  his  village 
home,  never  to  return  except  under  the  escort  of  death. 
In  words  of  farewell  to  the  friendly  multitude  who  sur- 
rounded him,  he  dedicated  himself  to  his  country  and 
solemnly  invoked  the  aid  of  Divine  Providence.  "  I 
know  not,"  he  said,  "how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again"; 
and  then,  with  a  prophetic  voice  he  announced  that  a 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  115 

duty  devolved  upon  him  "  greater  than  that  which  has 
devolved  upon  any  other  man  since  the  days  of  Washing- 
ton," and  he  asked  his  friends  to  pray  that  he  might 
receive  that  Divine  assistance,  without  which  he  could  not 
succeed,  but  with  which  success  was  certain.  Others 
have  gone  forth  to  power  and  fame  with  gladness  and 
with  song.  He  went  forth  prayerfully  as  to  a  sacrifice. 

You  do  not  forget  how  at  each  resting-place  on  the 
road  he  renewed  his  vows,  and  when  at  Philadelphia, 
visiting  Independence  Hall,  his  soul  broke  forth  in 
homage  to  the  vital  truths  which  were  there  declared. 
Of  all  his  utterances  on  the  way  to  the  national  capital, 
after  his  farewell  to  his  neighbors,  there  is  nothing  so 
prophetic  as  these  unpremeditated  words :  — 

"All  the  political  sentiments  I  entertain  have  been  drawn,  so 
far  as  I  have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments  which 
originated,  and  were  given  to  the  world  from  this  hall.  I  have 
never  had  a  feeling  politically  that  did  not  spring  from  the  senti- 
ments embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 

"  Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  on  this  basis?  If  it 
can,  I  shall  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  men  in  the  world  if 
I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  it  cannot  be  saved  upon  that  principle,  it 
will  be  truly  awful.  But  if  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without 
giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say  I  would  rather  be 
assassinated  on  the  spot." 

And  then,  after  adding  that  he  had  not  expected  to  say 
a  word,  he  repeated  again  the  consecration  of  his  life,  ex- 
claiming, u  I  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am  willing  to 
live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  to 
die  by." 


116  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

He  was  about  to  raise  the  national  banner  over  the  old 
hall.  But  before  this  service,  he  took  up  the  strain  which 
he  loved  so  well,  saying  :  — 

"It  is  on  such  an  occasion  as  this  that  we  can  reason  together, 
reaffirm  our  devotion  to  the  country  and  the  principles  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence" 

Thus  constantly  did  he  bear  his  testimony.  Surely  this 
fidelity  will  be  counted  ever  after  among  his  chief  glories. 
I  know  no  instance  in  history  more  touching,  especially 
when  we  consider  that  his  support  of  those  principles 
caused  his  sacrifice.  "  Though  every  tile  were  a  devil, 
yet  will  I  enter  Worms,"  said  Luther.  Our  reformer  was 
less  defiant,  but  hardly  less  determined.  Three  times  he 
had  already  announced,  that,  for  the  great  truths  of  the 
Declaration,  he  was  willing  to  die ;  three  times  he  had 
offered  himself  on-  that  altar ;  three  times  he  had  vowed 
himself  to  this  martyrdom. 

Slavery  was  already  pursuing  his  life.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  throw  from  the  track  a  train  in  which  he  was 
journeying,  and  a  hand  grenade  was  found  secreted  in 
another.  Baltimore,  which  lay  directly  on  his  way,  was 
the  seat  of  a  murderous  plot  against  him.  Avoiding  the 
conspirators  of  Slavery,  he  came  from  Philadelphia  to 
Washington  unexpectedly  in  the  night ;  and  thus,  for  the 
moment,  cheating  assassination  of  its  victim,  he  entered 
the  National  capital. 

From  this  time  forward  his  career  broadens  into  the 
history  of  his  country  and  of  the  age.  You  all  know  it 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  117 

by  heart.      Therefore  a  few  glimpses  will  be  enough,  that 
I  may  exhibit  its  moral  rather  than  its  story. 

The  Inaugural  Address  —  the  formation  of  his  cabinet 
—  his  earliest  acts  —  his  daily  conversation  —  all  attested 
the  spirit  of  moderation  with  which  he  approached  his 
perilous  position.  At  the  same  time  he  declared  openly, 
that  in  the  contemplation  of  universal  law  and  of  the  Con- 
stitution, the  Union  of  these  States  is  perpetual ;  that  no 
State,  upon  its  own  mere  motion,  can  lawfully  get  out 
of  the  Union ;  that  resolves  and  ordinances  to  that  effect 
are  legally  void ;  that  acts  of  violence  within  any  State 
are  insurrectionary  or  revolutionary ;  and  that,  to  the 
extent  of  his  ability,  he  should  take  care,  according  to 
the  express  injunction  of  the  Constitution,  that  the  laws 
of  the  Union  should  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the 
States.  But,  while  thus  positive  in  upholding  the  Unity 
of  the  Republic,  he  was  determined  that  on  his  part  there 
should  be  no  act  of  offence ;  that  there  should  be  no  blood- 
shed or  violence  unless  forced  upon  the  country ;  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  hold,  occupy,  and  possess  the  property 
and  places  belonging  to  the  Government,  but  beyond  what 
was  necessary  for  this  object,  there  would  be  no  exercise 
of  force,  and  the  people  everywhere  would  be  left  in  that 
perfect  security  which  is  most  favorable  to  calm  thought 
and  reflection. 

But  the  madness  of  Slavery  knew  no  bounds.  It  had 
been  determined  from  the  beginning  that  the  Union  should 
be  broken,  and  no  moderation  could  change  this  wicked 
purpose.  A  pretended  power  was  organized,  in  the  form 


118  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

to 

of  a  Confederacy,  with  Slavery  as  the  declared  corner- 
stone. You  know  what  ensued.  Fort  Sumter  was 
attacked,  and,  after  a  fiery  storm  of  shot  and  shell  for 
thirty- three  hours,  the  national  flag  fell.  This  was  14th 
April,  1861.  War  had  begun. 

War  is  always  a  scourge,  and  it  never  can  be  regarded 
without  sadness.  It  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  Provi- 
dence, that  it  is  still  allowed  to  vex  mankind.  There 
were  few  who  deprecated  it  more  than  the  President. 
From  his  Quaker  blood  and  from  reflection,  he  was  essen- 
tially a  man  of  peace.  In  one  of  his  speeches  during  his 
short  service  in  Congress,  he  arraigned  military  glory  as 
"that  rainbow  that  rises  in  showers  of  blood  —  that  ser- 
pent eye  that  charms  but  to  destroy ; "  and  now  that  he 
was  charged  with  the  terrible  responsibility  of  govern- 
ment, he  was  none  the  less  earnest  for  peace.  He  was 
not  willing  to  see  his  beloved  country  torn  by  bloody 
battle,  and  fellow- citizens  striking  at  each  other.  But 
after  the  criminal  assault  on  Fort  Sumter,  there  was  no 
alternative.  The  Republic  was  in  danger,  and  every  man 
from  President  to  citizen  was  summoned  to  the  defence. 
Nor  was  this  all.  An  attempt  was  made  to  invest  Slavery 
with  national  Independence,  and  the  President,  who  dis- 
liked both  slavery  and  war,  described,  perhaps,  his  own 
condition,  when;  in  a  letter  to  one  of  the  Society  of 
F'riends,  he  said,  "  Your  people  have  had  and  are  having 
very  great  trials  on  principles  and  iaith.  Opposed  to 
both  war  and  oppression,  they  can  only  practically  oppose 
oppression  bi/  war"  In  these  few  words  the  whole  case 
is  stated ;  inasmuch  as,  whatever  might  be  the  pre- 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  119 

tension   of   State   Rights,  the   war  was    made  necessary 
to  put  down  the  hideous  ambition  of  Slavery. 

The  slave-masters  simply  put  in  execution  a  conspiracy 
long  contrived,  for  which  they  had  already  prepared  the 
way :  first,  by  teaching  that  any  State  might,  at  its  own 
will,  break  from  the  Union,  and,  secondly,  by  teaching 
that  colored  persons  were  so  far  inferior  as  not  to  be 
embraced  in  the  promises  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, but  were  justly  held  as  slaves.  The  Mephistopheles 
of  Slavery,  Mr.  Calhoun,  had,  for  years,  inculcated  both 
these  pretensions.  But  the  pretension  of  State  Rights  was 
merely  a  cover  for  Slavery. 

Therefore,  when  it  was  determined  that  the  slave-mas- 
ters should  be  encountered,  two  things  were  resolved : 
first,  that  this  Republic  was  one  and  indivisible  ;  and, 
secondly,  that  no  hideous  Power,  with  Slavery  blazoned 
on  its  front,  should  be  created  on  our  soil.  Here  was 
an  affirmation  and  a  denial ;  first,  an  affirmation  of  the 
Unity  of  the  Republic;  and,  secondly,  a  denial  of  any 
independent  foothold  to  rebel  Slavery.  In  accepting  the 
challenge  at  Fort  Sumter,  the  President  became  the  voice 
of  the  country,  which,  with  a  stern  determination,  insisted 
that  the  Rebellion  should  be  put  down  by  war.  The 
people  were  in  earnest,  and  would  not  brook  hesitation ; 
and  they  were  right.  If  ever  in  history  war  was  neces- 
sary, —  if  ever  in  history  war  was  holy,  —  it  was  the  war 
then  and  there  begun  for  the  overthrow  of  rebel  Slavery. 

From  the  first  cannon  shot,  it  was  plain  that  the  Rebel- 
Jion  was  nothing  but  Slavery  in  arms ;  but  such  was  the 


120  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

power  of  Slavery,  even  in  the  Free  States,  that  months 
elapsed  before  this  giant  criminal  was  directly  attacked. 
Generals  in  the  field  were  tender  with  regard  to  it, 
as  if  it  were  a  church,  or  a  work  of  the  fine  arts. 
It  was  only  under  the  teaching  of  disaster  that  the 
country  was  aroused.  The  first  step  was  taken  in  Con- 
gress after  the  defeat  at  Bull  Kun.  But  still  the  Pres- 
ident hesitated.  Disaster  thickened  and  graves  opened, 
until  at  last  the  country  saw  that  only  by  justice  could 
we  hope  for  Divine  favor,  and  the  President,  who  leaned 
so  closely  upon  the  popular  heart,  pronounced  that  great 
word,  by  which  all  slaves  in  the  Rebel  States  were 
set  free.  Let  it  be  named  forever  to  his  glory,  that  he 
grasped  the  thunderbolt,  even  though  tardily,  under 
which  the  Rebellion  staggered  to  its  fall ;  that,  following 
up  the  blow,  he  enlisted  colored  citizens  as  soldiers  in  the 
national  army ;  and,  that  he  declared  his  final  purpose 
never  to  retract  or  modify  the  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
nor  to  return  into  Slavery  any  person  free  by  the  terms  of 
that  instrument,  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress,  saying, 
loftily,  "  If  the  people  should,  by  whatever  mode  or 
means,  make  it  an  executive  duty  to  re-enslave  such 
persons,  another  and  not  I  must  be  the  instrument  to 
perform  it." 

It  was  sometimes  said  that  the  Proclamation  was  of 
doubtful  constitutionality.  If  this  criticism  did  not  pro- 
ceed from  sympathy  with  Slavery,  it  evidently  proceeded 
from  the  prevailing  superstition  with  regard  to  this  idol. 
Future  jurists  will  read  with  astonishment  that  such  a 
flagrant  wrong  could  be  considered  at  any  time  as  having 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  121 

any  rights  which  a  court  was  bound  to  respect,  .and 
especially  that  rebels  in  arms  could  be  considered  as 
having  any  title  to  the  services  of  people  whose  allegi- 
ance was  primarily  due  to  the  United  States.  But,  turn- 
ing from  these  conclusions,  it  seems  to  be  obvious,  that 
Slavery,  which  stood  exclusively  on  local  law  without  any 
support  in  natural  law,  must  have  fallen  with  the  local 
government,  both  legally  and  constitutionally ;  legally, 
inasmuch  as  it  ceased  to  have  any  valid  legal  support ; 
and  constitutionally,  inasmuch  as  it  came  at  once  within 
the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  Constitution,  where 
Liberty  is  the  prevailing  law.  The  President  did  not  act 
upon  these  principles,  but,  speaking  with  the  voice  of 
authority,  he  said  "  Let  the  slaves  be  free."  What  Court 
and  Congress  hesitated  to  declare,  he  proclaimed,  and 
thus  enrolled  himself  among  the  world's  Emancipators. 

Passing  from  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  which 
places  its  author  so  far  above  human  approach  that 
human  envy  cannot  reach  him,  I  carry  you  for  one 
moment  to  our  Foreign  Relations.  The  convulsion  here 
was  felt  in  the  most  distant  places  —  as  at  the  great  earth- 
quake of  Lisbon,  when  that  capital  seemed  about  to  be 
submerged,  there  was  a  commotion  of  the  waters  in  our 
Northern  Lakes.  All  Europe  was  stirred.  There,  too, 
was  the  Slavery  Question  in  another  form.  England,  in  an 
unhappy  moment,  under  an  ill-considered  plea  of  "  neces- 
sity"—  which  Milton  tells  us  was  the  plea  by  which  the 
fiend  "  excused  a  devilish  deed "  —  accorded  to  rebel 
Slavery  the  rights  of  belligerency  on  the  ocean,  and  then 


122  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

proceeded  to  open  her  ports,  to  surrender  her  workshops, 
and  to  let  loose  her  merchant  ships  in  aid  of  this  wicked- 
ness ;  —  forgetting  all  the  relations  of  alliance  and  amity 
with  the  United  States  —  forgetting  all  the  logic  of 
English  history  —  forgetting  all  the  distinctions  of  right 
and  wrong  —  and  forgetting  also  that  a  new  Power 
founded  on  Slavery  was  a  moral  monster  with  which  a 
just  nation  could  have  nothing  to  do.  To  appreciate  the 
character  of  this  concession,  we  must  appreciate  clearly 
the  whole  vast  unprecedented  crime  of  the  Rebellion, 
taking  its  complexion  from  Slavery.  Undoubtedly  it  was 
criminal  to  assail  the  Unity  of  this  Republic,  and  thus 
destroy  its  peace  and  impair  its  example  in  the  world ; 
but  the  attempt  to  build  a  new  Power  on  Slavery  as  a 
corner-stone,  and  with  no  other  declared  object  of  sep- 
arate existence,  was  more  than  criminal,  or  rather  it  was 
a  crime  of  that  untold,  unspeakable  guilt,  which  no 
language  can  depict  and  which  no  judgment  can  be 
too  swift  to  condemn.  The  associates  in  this  terrible 
apostasy  might  rebuke  each  other  in  the  words  of  an  old 
dramatist :  — 

Thou  must  do,  then, 

What  no  malevolent  star  will  dare  to  look,  on, 
It  is  so  wicked ;  for  which  men  will  curse  thee 
For  being  the  instrument,  and  the  blest  angels 
Forsake  me  at  my  need,  for  being  the  author ; 
For  't  is  a  deed  of  night,  of  night,  Francisco ! 
In  which  the  memory  of  all  good  actions 
We  can  pretend  to,  shall  be  buried  quick ; 
Or,  if  we  be  remembered,  it  shall  be 
To  fright  posterity  by  an  example 
That  have  outgone  all  precedents  of  villains 

That  were  before  us. 

[Massenger.     Duke  of  Milan.     Act  I. 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  123 

To  recognize  such  a  Power ;  —  to  enter  into  semi- 
alliance  with  it;  —  to  invest  it  with  rights; — to  open 
ports  to  it ;  —  to  surrender  workshops  to  it ;  — to  build 
ships  for  it ;  —  to  drive  a  busy  commerce  with  it ;  —  all 
this,  or  any  part  of  this,  is  positive  and  plain  complicity 
with  the  original  guilt,  and  must  be  judged  as  we  judge 
any  other  complicity  with  Slavery.  To  say  that  it  was 
a  necessity,  is  only  to  repeat  the  plea  which  has  been 
made  by  slave-masters  and  slave-traders  from  the  earliest 
moment,  when  driven  to  vindicate  their  crime.  But 
a  generous  Englishman,  who  was  an  ornament  of  letters, 
and  who  has  told  us  in  memorable  lines  "  what  consti- 
tutes a  State,"  has  denounced  all  complicity  with  Slavery 
in  words  which  strike  directly  at  this  plea  of  necessity. 
"  Let  sugar  be  as  dear  as  it  may,"  said  Sir  William  Jones 
to  the  freeholders  of  Middlesex,  "  it  is  better  to  eat  none ; 
to  eat  honey,  if-  sweetness  only  be  palatable ;  better  to 
eat  aloes,  or  coloquintida,  than  violate  a  primary  law  of 
nature  impressed  on  every  heart  not  imbruted  by  avarice, 
or  rob  one  honest  creature  of  these  eternal  rights  of 
which  no  law  upon  earth  can  justly  deprive  him." 

England  led  in  the  concession  of  belligerent  rights  to 
rebel  Slavery.  No  event  of  the  war  has  been  comparable 
to  this  concession  in  encouragement  to  this  transcendant 
crime  or  in  prejudice  to  the  United  States.  It  was  out  of 
English  ports  and  English  workshops  that  rebel  Slavery 
drew  its  supplies.  It  was  in  English  ship-yards  that  the 
cruisers  of  rebel  Slavery  were  built  and  equipped.  It  was 
from  English  foundries  and  arsenals  that  rebel  Slavery 
was  armed.  And  all  this  was  made  easy,  when  her 


124  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

Majesty's  government,  under  the  pretence  of  an  impos- 
sible neutrality,  lifted  rebel  Slavery  to  an  equality 
with  the  United  States.  This  was  the  fatal  concession 
which  gave  to  rebel  Slavery  belligerent  power  on  the 
ocean.  The  early  legend  was  here  verified.  King  Arthur 
was  without  a  sword,  when  suddenly  one  appeared, 
thrust  out  from  a  lake.  "  Lo  ! "  said  Merlin,  the  en- 
chanter, "  yonder  is  a  sword ;  it  belongeth  to  the  Lady 
"of  the  Lake ;  if  she  will,  thou  mayest  take  it ;  but  if  she 
will  not,  it  will  not  be  in  thy  power  to  take  it"  And  the 
Lady  of  the  Lake  yielded  the  sword,  so  says  the  legend 
—  even  as  England  has  since  yielded  the  sword  to  rebel 
Slavery. 

The  President  saw  the  painful  consequences  of  this 
concession,  and  especially  that  it  was  a  first  step  towards 
the  acknowledgment  of  rebel  Slavery  as  an  Independent 
Power.  Clearly,  if  it  were  proper  for  a  Foreign  Power 
to  acknowledge  Belligerency,  it  might,  at  a  later  stage,  be 
proper  to  acknowledge  Independence  ;  and  any  objection 
vital  to  Independence,  would,  if  applicable,  be  equally 
vital  to  Belligerency.  Solemn  resolutions,  by  Congress, 
on  this  subject  were  communicated  to  Foreign  Powers  ; 
but  the  unanswerable  argument  against  any  possible 
recognition  of  a  new  Power  founded  on  Slavery  —  whether 
as  Independent  or  as  Belligerent  —  was  stated  by  the 
President,  in  a  paper  which  I  now  hold  in  my  hand, 
and  which  has  never  before  seen  the  light.  It  is  a  copy 
of  a  resolution  drawn  by  himself,  which  he  gave  to  me, 
in  his  own  autograph,  for  transmission  to  one  of  our 
valued  friends  abroad,  as  an  expression  of  his  opinion 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  125 

on  the  great  question  involved,  and  a   guide  to   public 
duty.     It  is  in  these  words  :  — 

"  Whereas,  while  heretofore  States  and  Nations  have  tolerated 
Slavery,  recently,  for  the  first  [time]  in  the  world,  an  attempt  has 
been  made  to  construct  a  new  nation  upon  the  basis  of  Human 
Slavery,  and  with  the  primary  and  fundamental  object  to  maintain, 
enlarge,  and  perpetuate  the  same,  therefore 

"  Resolved,  that  no  such  embryo  State  should  ever  be  recognized, 
by,  or  admitted  into,  the  family  of  Christian  and  civilized  nations ; 
and  that  all  Christian  and  civilized  men  everywhere  should,  by  all 
lawful  means,  resist  to  the  utmost  such  recognition  or  admission." 

You  will  see  how  distinctly  any  recognition  of  rebel 
Slavery  as  an  Independent  Power  is  branded,  and  how 
"  all  Christian  and  civilized  men  everywhere"  are  sum- 
moned "  to  resist  to  the  utmost  such  recognition ; "  and 
precisely  for  the  same  reason  "  such  Christian  and  civil- 
ized men  everywhere  "  should  have  resisted  to  the  utmost 
any  recognition  of  rebel  Slavery  as  a  Belligerent  Power. 
Of  course,  had  such  a  benign  spirit  entered  into  the 
counsels  of  England  when  Slavery  first  took  up  arms 
against  the  Republic,  this  great  historic  nation  would 
have  shrunk  at  every  hazard  from  that  fatal  concession, 
which  was  in  itself  a  plain  contribution  to  Slavery,  and 
opened  the  way  to  infinite  contributions,  without  which 
the  criminal  pretender  must  have  speedily  succumbed. 
There  would  have  been  no  plea  of  "  necessity."  But 
Divine  Providence  willed  it  otherwise.  Perhaps  it  was 
essential  to  the  full  revelation  of  its  boundless  capacities, 
that  the  Republic  should  stand  forth  alone,  in  sublime 


126  MEMORIAL-  OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

solitude,  warring  for  Human  Rights,  and  thus  become  an 
example  to  mankind. 

Meanwhile  the  war  continued  with  the  proverbial 
vicissitudes  of  this  arbitrament.  Battles  were  fought 
and  lost.  Other  battles  were  fought  and  won.  Rebel 
Slavery  stood  face  to  face  in  deadly  conflict  with  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  when  the  President,  with 
unconscious  power,  dealt  it  another  blow,  second  only 
to  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  This  was  at  the 
blood-soaked  field  of  Gettysburg,  where  the  armies  of 
the  Republic  had  encountered  the  armies  of  Slavery, 
and,  after  a  conflict  of  three  days,  had  driven  them 
back  with  destructive  slaughter  —  as  at  that  decisive 
battle  of  Tours,  on  which  hung  the  destinies  of  Chris- 
tianity in  Western  Europe,  the  invading  Mahometans, 
after  a  conflict  of  three  days,  were  driven  back  by 
Charles  Martel.  No  battle  of  the  present  war  was  more 
important.  Few  battles  in  history  can  compare  with  it. 
A  few  months  later,  there  was  another  meeting  on  that 
same  field.  It  was  of  grateful  fellow-citizens,  gathered 
from  all  parts  of  the  Union  to  dedicate  it  to  the  mem- 
ory of  those  who  had  fallen  there.  Among  these  were 
eminent  men  from  our  own  country  and  from  foreign 
lands.  There  too  was  your  classic  orator,  whose  finished 
address  was  a  model  of  literary  excellence.  The  Pres- 
ident spoke  very  briefly;  but  his  few  words  wilKlive 
as  long  as  time.  Since  Simonides  wrote  the  epitaph  for 
those  who  died  at  Thermopylae,  nothing  equal  to  them 
has  ever  been  breathed  over  the  fallen  dead.  Thus  he 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  127 

began :  "  Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers 
brought  forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived 
in  Liberty  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are 
created  equal"  The  Equality  of  all  men,  which  he  had  so 
often  vindicated  and  for  which  he  was  willing  to  die,  is 
thus  heralded,  and  the  country  is  again  called  to  carry  it 
forward,  that  our  duty  may  not  be  left  undone. 

"  It  is  for  us  the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the 
unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly 
advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task 
remaining  before  us,  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  in- 
creased devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  measure 
of  devotion ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not 
have  died  in  vain ;  that  this  nation  under  God  shall  have  a  new 
birth  of  Freedom,  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

That  speech,  uttered  at  the  field  of  Gettysburg,  and 
now  sanctified  by  the  martyrdom  of  its  author,  is  a  mon- 
umental act.  In  the  modesty  of  his  nature  he  said : 
"  the  world  will  little  note,  nor  long  remember  what  we 
say  here ;  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here." 
He  was  mistaken.  The  world  noted  at  once  what  he  said, 
and  will  never  cease  to  remember  it.  The  battle  itself 
was  less  important  than  the  speech.  Ideas  are  always 
more  than  battles. 

Among  the  events  which  secured  to  him  the  assured 
confidence  of  the  country  against  all  party  clamor  and 
prejudice,  you  cannot  place  this  speech  too  high.  TO 
some  who  had  doubted  his  earnestness,  here  was  touching 
proof  of  their  error.  Others  who  had  followed  him  with 


128  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

indifference,  were  warmed  with  grateful  sympathy.  There 
were  none  to  criticise. 

He  was  re-elected  President ;  and  here  was  not  only  a 
personal  triumph,  but  a  triumph  of  the  Republic.  For 
himself  personally,  it  was  much  to  find  his  administration 
thus  ratified  ;  but  for  republican  ideas  it  was  of  incal- 
culable value,  that,  at  such  a  time,  the  plume  of  the 
soldier  had  not  prevailed.  In  the  midst  of  war,  the 
people  at  the  ballot-box  deliberately  selected  a  civilian. 
Ye,  who  doubt  the  destinies  of  the  Republic  —  who 
fear  the  ambition  of  a  military  chief, —  or  who  suspect  the 
popular  will  < —  do  not  forget,  that,  at  this  moment,  when 
the  voice  of  battle  filled  the  whole  land,  the  country 
quietly  appointed  for  its  ruler  this  man  of  peace. 

The  Inaugural  Address  which  signalized  his  entry  for 
a  second  time  upon  his  great  duties,  was  briefer  than  any 
similar  address  in  our  history ;  but  it  has  already  gone 
further,  and  will  live  longer,  than  any  other.  It  was 
a  continuation  of  the  Gettysburg  speech,  with  the  same 
sublimity  and  gentleness.  Its  concluding  words  were  like 
an  angelic  benediction. 

And  now  there  was  a  surfeit  of  battle  and  of  victory. 
Calmly  he  saw  the  land  of  Slavery  enveloped  by  the 
national  forces  ;  saw  the  great  coil  bent  by  his  generals 
about  it ;  saw  the  mighty  garrote  as  it  tightened  against 
the  neck  of  the  Rebellion.  Good  news  came  from  all 
quarters.  Everywhere  the  army  was  doing  its  duty. 
One  was  conquering  in  Tennessee  ;  another  was  march- 
ing in  Georgia  and  Carolina;  another  was  watching  at 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  129 

Richmond.  The  navy  echoed  back  the  thunders  of  the 
army.  Place  after  place  was  falling  —  Savannah,  Charles- 
ton, Fort  Fisher,  Wilmington.  The  President  left  the 
National  Capital  to  be  near  the  Lieutenant-General.  Then 
came  the  capture  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  with  the 
flight  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  cabinet.  Without  pomp 
or  military  escort,  the  President  entered  the  Capital  of  the 
Rebellion  and  walked  its  streets,  from  which  Slavery  had 
fled  forever.  Then  came  the  surrender  of  Lee.  The 
surrender  of  Johnston  was  at  hand.  The  military  power 
of  rebel  Slavery  had  been  broken  like  a  Prince  Rupert 
drop,  and  everywhere  within  its  confines  the  barbarous 
government  it  had  set  up  was  tumbling  in  crash  and  ruin. 
The  country  was  in  ecstasy.  All  this  he  watched  without 
elation,  while  his  soul  was  brooding  on  thoughts  of  peace 
and  clemency.  His  youthful  son,  who  had  been  on  the  staff 

X 

of  the  Lieutenant-General,  returned  on  the  morning  of 
Friday,  14th  April,  to  resume  his  interrupted  studies.  The 
father  was  happy  in  the  sound  of  his  footsteps,  and  felt  the 
augury  of  peace.  On  the  same  day  the  Lieutenant-General 
returned.  In  the  intimacy  of  his  family  the  President  said 
that  this  day  the  war  was  over.  In  the  evening  he  sought 
relaxation,  and  you  know  the  rest.  Alas  !  the  war  was  not 
over.  The  minions  of  Slavery  were  dogging  him  with 
unabated  animosity, -and  that  night  he  became  a  martyr. 
The  country  rose  at  once  in  an  agony  of  grief,  and 
strong  men  everywhere  wept.  City,  town,  and  village 
were  darkened  by  the  obsequies,  as  they  swept  by  with 
more  than  "  sceptred  pall."  Every  street  was  draped 
with  the  ensigns  of  woe.  He  had  become,  as  it  were, 

17 


130  MEMORIAL    OF   PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

the  inmate  of  every  house,  and  the  families  of  the  land 
were  in  mourning.  Not  only  in  the  Executive  mansion, 
but  in  uncounted  homes,  was  his  vacant  chair.  Never 
before  was  such  universal  sorrow ;  and  already  the  voice 
of  lamentation  is  returning  to  us  from  Europe,  where  can- 
dor towards  him  had  begun  even  before  his  tragical  death. 
Only  a  short  time  ago,  he  was  unknown,  except  in  his  own 
State.  Only  a  short  time  ago,  he  had  visited  New  York 
as  a  stranger,  and  was  shown  about  its  streets  by  youthful 
companions.  Five  years  later,  he  was  borne  through 
these  streets  with  funeral  pomp,  such  as  the  world  never 
before  witnessed.  Space  and  speed  were  forgotten  in 
the  offering  of  hearts.  As  the  surpassing  pageant  moved 
over  counties  and  States,  from  ocean-side  to  prairie,  on 
iron  highways,  at  thirty  miles  an  hour,  the  whole  afflicted 
people  bent  their  uncovered  heads. 

At  the  first  moment  it  was  hard  to  comprehend  this 
blow,  and  many  cried  in  despair.  But  the  rule  of  God 
ha»  been  too  visible  of  late  to  allow  any  doubt  of  his  con- 
stant presence.  Did  not  our  martyr  remind  us  in  his  last 
address,  that  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true,  and 
righteous  altogether  ?  And  who  will  say  that  his  death 
was  not  a  judgment  of  the  Lord  ]  Perhaps  it  was  needed 
to  lift  the  country  to  a  more  perfect  justice  and  to  inspire 
it  with  a  sublimer  faith.  Perhaps  it  was  sent  in  mercy  to 
set  a  sacred,  irreversible  seal  upon  the  good  he  had  done, 
and  to  put  Emancipation  beyond  all  mortal  question. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  sacrificial  consecration  of  those  primal 
truths,  embodied  in  the  birthday  Declaration  of  the  Ke- 
public,  which  he  had  so  often  vindicated,  and  for  which 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  131 

he  had  announced  his  willingness  to  die.  He  is  gone,  and 
he  has  been  mourned  sincerely.  It  is  only  private  sorrow 
that  could  wish  to  recall  the  dead.  He  is  now  removed 
beyond  earthly  vicissitudes.  Life  and  death  are  both  past. 
He  had  been  happy  in  life.  He  was  not  less  happy  in 
death.  In  death,  as  in  life,  he  was  still  under  the  guar- 
dianship of  that  Divine  Providence,  which  took  him  early 
by  the  hand  and  led  him  from  obscurity  to  power  and 
fame.  The  blow  was  sudden,  but  not  unprepared  for. 
Only  on  the  Sunday  preceding,  as  he  was  coming  from 
the  front  on  board  the  steamer  —  with  a  quarto  Shake- 
speare in  his  hands  —  he  read  aloud  the  well-known  words 
of  his  favorite  Macbeth :  — 

Duncan  is  in  his  grave ; 
After  life's  fitful  fever,  he  sleeps  well. 
Treason  has  done  his  worst ;  nor  steel,  nor  poison, 
Malice  domestic,  foreign  levy,  nothing 
Can  touch  him  further. 

Impressed  by  their  beauty  or  by  some  presentiment 
unuttered,  he  read  them  aloud  a  second  time.  As  the 
friends  who  then  surrounded  him  listened  to  his  read- 
ing, they  little  thought  how,  in  a  few  days,  what  was 
said  of  the  murdered  Duncan  would  be  said  of  him. 
Nothing  can  touch  him  further.  He  is  saved  from  the 
trials  that  were  gathering  about  him.  He  had  fought 
the  good  fight  of  Emancipation.  He  had  borne  the 
brunt  of  war  with  embattled  hosts  against  him,  and  had 
conquered.  He  had  made  the  name  of  Republic  a  triumph 
and  a  joy  in  foreign  lands.  Now  that  the  strife  of  bloo 
was  ended,  it  remained  to  be  seen  how  he  could  confront 


132  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

those  machinations,  which  are  only  a  prolongation  of  the 
war,  and  more  dangerous  because  more  subtle,  where  re- 
cent rebels,  with  professions  of  Union  on  the  lips,  but  still 
denying  the  birthday  Declaration  of  the  Republic,  vainly 
seek  to  organize  peace  on  another  Oligarchy  of  the  skin. 
From  all  these  trials  he  was  saved.  But  his  testimony 
lives  and  will  live  forever,  quickened  by  the  undying 
echoes  of  his  tomb.  Invisible  to  mortal  sight,  and  now 
above  all  human  weakness,  he  is  still  champion,  as  in  his 
early  conflict,  summoning  his  countrymen  back  to  the  truths 
that  are  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Dead,  he 
speaks  with  more  than  living  voice.  But  the.  author  of 
Emancipation  cannot  die.  His  immortality  on  earth  has 
begun.  His  country  and  his  age  are  already  enshrined 
in  his  example,  as  if  he  were  its  great  poet  gathered  to 
his  fathers :  — 

Back  to  the  living  hath  he  turned  him, 

And  all  of  death  has  passed  away ; 
The  age  that  thought  him  dead  and  mourned  him, 

Itself  now  lives  but  in  his  lay. 

If  the  President  were  alive,  he  would  protest  against 
any  monotony  of  panegyric.  He  never  exaggerated.  He 
was  always  cautious  in  praise,  as  in  censure.  In  endeav- 
oring to  estimate  his  character,  we  shall  be  nearer  to  him 
in  proportion  as  we  cultivate  the  same  spirit. 

In  person  he  was  tall  and  bony,  with  little  resemblance 
to  any  historic  portrait,  unless  he  might  seem  in  one  respect 
to  justify  the  epithet  which  was  given  to  an  early  English 
monarch.  As  he  stood,  his  form  was  angular,  with 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  133 

something   of    that    straightness   in   its   lines    which    is 
so  peculiar   in  the  figure  of  Dante   by   Flaxman.      His 
countenance    had    more   of    rugged    strength    than    his 
person,    and   while   in   repose    sometimes    seemed    sad ; 
but   it   lighted   up   easily.      Perhaps   the   quality   which 
struck  most  at  first  sight  was  his  simplicity  of  manners 
and  conversation,  without  form  or  ceremony  of  any  kind, 
beyond  that  among  neighbors.     His  handwriting  had  the 
same  simplicity.     It  was  as  clear  as  that  of  Washington, 
but  less  florid.     Each  had  been  a  surveyor,  and  was  per- 
haps, indebted  to  this  experience.     But  the  son  of  the 
Western  pioneer  was  more  simple  in  nature,  and  the  man 
appeared  in  the  autograph.      That  integrity  which  has 
become  a  proverb,  belonged  to  the  same  quality.     The 
most  perfect  honesty  must  be  the  most  perfect  simplicity. 
The  words  by  which  an   ancient  Roman  was  described 
belong  to  him :    Vita  innocentissimus,  proposito  sanctissimus. 
He  was  naturally  humane,  inclined  to  pardon,  and  never 
remembering  the  hard  things  said  against  him.     He  was 
always  good  to  the  poor,  and  in  his  dealings  with  them 
was  full  of  those  "kind  little  words  which  are  of  the  same 
blood  as  great  and  holy  deeds."     Only  on  the  Saturday 
before  his  death  I  saw  him  shake  hands  with  more  than 
five   thousand   soldier-patients    in  the   tent    hospitals   at 
City  Point,  and  he  said  afterwards  that  his  arm  was  not 
tired.     Such  a  character  awakened  instinctively  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  people.    They  saw  his   fellow-feeling  with 
them  and  felt  the  kinship.     With  him  as  President,  the 
idea  of  Republican  Institutions,  where  no  place  is  too 
high  for  the  humblest,  was  perpetually  manifest,  so  that 


134  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

his   simple    presence   was    like   a   Proclamation   of    the 
Equality  of  all  Men. 

While  social  in  nature  and  enjoying  the  flow  of  conver- 
sation, he  was  often  singularly  reticent.  Modesty  was 
natural  to  such  a  character.  As  he  was  without  affecta- 
tion, so  he  was  without  pretence  or  jealousy.  No  person 
civil  or  military  can  complain  that  he  appropriated  to 
himself  any  honor  that  belonged  to  another.  To  each 
and  all  he  anxiously  gave  the  credit  that  was  due.  And 
this  same  spirit  was  apparent  in  smaller  things.  On  one 
occasion,  in  a  sally  of  Congressional  debate,  he  said  that  a 
fiery  slave-master  of  Georgia,  to  whom  he  was  replying, 
"  was  an  eloquent  man,  and  a  man  of  learning ;  —  so  far  as 
he  could  judge  of  learning,  not  being  learned  himself." 
(Congress.  Globe,  Appendix,  1st  session,  3Qth  Congress,  p. 
1042.) 

His  humor  has  become  a  proverb.  He  insisted 
sometimes  that  he  had  no  invention,  but  only  a  memory. 
He  did  not  forget  the  good  things  that  he  heard,  and 
was  never  without  a  familiar  story  to  illustrate  his  mean- 
ing. When  he  spoke,  the  recent  West  seemed  to  vie  with 
the  ancient  East  in  apologue  and  fable.  His  ideas  moved, 
as  the  beasts  entered  Noah's  ark,  in  pairs.  At  times  his 
illustrations  had  a  homely  felicity,  and  with  him  they 
seemed  to  be  not  less  important  than  the  argument, 
which  he  always  enforced  with  a  certain  intensity  of 
manner  and  voice.  But  this  same  humor  was  often  dis- 
played where  there  was  no  story,  and  with  a  point  that 
might  remind  you  of  Franklin.  I  know  not  how  the 
indifference,  which  many  persons  showed  with  regard  to 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  135 

Slavery,  could  be  exposed  more  effectively  than  when 
he  said  of  a  political  antagonist,  who  was  thus  in- 
different, "  I  suppose  the  institution  of  Slavery  really 
looks  small  to  him.  He  is  so  put  up  by  nature  that  a  lash 
upon  his  back  would  hurt  him,  but  a  lash  upon  anybody 
else's  back  does  not  hurt  him."  And  then,  again,  there 
is  a  bit  of  reply  to  Mr.  Douglas,  which  is  characteristic 
not  only  for  its  humor,  but  as  showing  how  little  at  that 
time  he  was  looking  to  the  great  place  which  he  reached 
so  soon  afterwards.  "  Senator  Douglas,"  said  he,  "  is  of 
world- wide  renown.  All  the  anxious  politicians  of  his 
party,  or  who  have  been  of  his  party  for  years  past,  have 
been  looking  upon  him  as  certainly,  at  no  distant  day,  to 
be  the  President  of  the  United  States.  They  have  seen 
in  his  round,  jolly,  fruitful  face,  post  offices,  land  offices, 
marshalships,  and  cabinet  appointments,  chargeships  and 
foreign  missions,  bursting  and  sprouting  out  in  a  won- 
derful exuberance,  ready  to  be  laid  hold  of  by  their 
greedy  hands.  .  .  On  the  contrary,  nobody  has  ever 
expected  me  to  be  President.  In  my  poor,  lean,  lank  face 
nobody  has  ever  seen  that  any  cabbages  were  sprout- 
ing out.  These  are  disadvantages  that  the  Eepub- 
licans  labor  under.  We  have  to  fight  the  battle  upon 
principle,  and  upon  principle  alone."  (Debate  with  Dqnglas, 
p.  55.)  Here  is  a  glimpse  with  regard  to  himself, 
which  is  as  honorable  as  it  is  curious.  In  a  different 
vein,  he  said,  while  President,  "  the  national  government 
must  not  undertake  to  run  the  churches."  Here  wisdom 
and  humor  seem  to  vie  with  each  other. 

He  was  original  in  mind  as  in  character.     His  style 


136  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

was  his  own  ;  formed  on  no  model,  and  springing  directly 
from  himself.  While  failing  often  in  correctness,  it  is 
sometimes  unique  in  beauty  and  in  sentiment.  There  are 
passages  which  will  live  always.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to 
say,  that,  in  weight  and  pith,  suffused  in  a  certain  poetical 
color,  they  call  to  mind  Bacon's  Essays.  Such  passages 
make  an  epoch  in  State  Papers.  No  Presidential  mes- 
sage or  speech  from  a  throne  ever  had  any  thing  of  such 
touching  reality.  They  are  harbingers  of  the  great  era 
of  Humanity.  While  uttered  from  the  heights  of  power, 
they  reveal  a  simple,  unaffected  trust  in  Almighty  God, 
and"  speak  to  the  people  as  equal  to  equal. 

He  was  placed  by  Providence  at  the  head  of  his  coun- 
try during  an  unprecedented  crisis,  when  the  fountains 
of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,  and  men  turned  for 
protection  to  military  power.  Multitudinous  armies  were 
mustered.  Great  navies  were  created.  Of  all  these 
he  was  the  constitutional  Co mmander-in- Chief.  As  the 
war  proceeded,  all  his  prerogatives  enlarged  and  others 
sprang  into  being,  until  the  sway  of  a  Republican  Presi- 
dent became  imperatorial  and  imperial.  But  not  for  one 
moment  did  the  modesty  of  his  nature  desert  him.  His 
constant  thought  was  his  country,  and  how  to  serve  it. 
He  saw  the  certain  greatness  of  the  Republic,  and  was 
pleased  in  looking  forward  to  that  early  day,  when, 
according  to  assured  calculation,  its  millions  of  people 
will  count  by  the  hundred  ;  but  he  saw  in  this  prodigious 
sway  nothing  but  the  good  of  man.  Personal  ambi- 
tion at  the  expense  of  patriotism  was  as  far  removed 
from  the  simple  purity  of  his  nature  as  poison  from 


ME.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  137 

a  strawberry.  And  thus  with  equal  courage  in  the 
darkest  hours  he  continued  on,  heeding  as  little  the 
warnings  of  danger  as  the  temptations  of  power.  "  It 
would  not  do  for  a  President,"  he  said,  "  to  have  guards 
with  drawn  sabres  at  his  door,  as  if  he  fancied  he  were,  or 
were  trying  to  be,  or  were  assuming  to  be,  an  emperor." 
And  in  the  same  homeliness  he  spoke  of  his  return  at 
morning  to  his  daily  duties  as  "  opening  shop."  Though 
commissioning  officers  in  multitudes  beyond  any  other 
person  of  authentic  history,  he  never  learned  the  mystery 
of  shoulder-straps  and  of  buttons  in  the  military  and  naval 
.uniforms,  except  that  he  had  noticed  three  stars  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  Lieutenant- General. 

When  he  became  President  he  was  without  any  con- 
siderable experience  in  public  affairs ;  nor  was  he  much 
versed  in  history,  whose  lessons  would  have  been  most 
valuable.  As  he  became  more  familiar  with  the  place, 
his  facility  evidently  increased.  He  had  "  learned  the 
ropes,"  so  he  said.  But  his  habits  of  business  were 
irregular,  and  they  were  never  those  of  despatch.  He 
did  not  see  at  once  the  just  proportions  of  things,  and 
allowed  himself  to  be  too  much  occupied  by  details. 
Even  in  small  things,  as  well  as  in  great,  there  was  in 
him  a  certain  resistance  to  be  overcome.  There  were 
moments  when  this  delay  caused  impatience,  and  im- 
portant questions  seemed  to  suffer.  But  when  the  blow 
was  struck  there  was  nothing  but  gratitude,  and  all 
confessed  the  singleness  with  which  he  had  sought  the 
public  good.  There  was  also  a  conviction,  that,  though 

slow  to  reach  his  conclusion,  he  was  inflexible  in  main- 
is 


138  MEMORIAL   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

taining  it.  Pompey  boasted  that  by  the  stamp  of  his  foot 
he  might  raise  an  army.  The  President  might  have  done 
the  same  ;  but,  according  to  his  own  words,  he  "  put  his 
foot  down,"  and  saved  a  principle. 

In  the  statement  of  moral  truth  and  the  exposure  of 
wrong,  he  was  at  times  singularly  cogent.  There  was 
fire  as  well  as  light  in  his  words.  Nobody  exhibited 
Slavery  in  its  enormity  more  clearly.  On  one  occasion 
he  blasted  it  as  "a  monstrous  injustice";  on  another 
he  pictured  the  slave-master  as  "  wringing  his  bread 
from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces " ;  and  then,  on 
still  another  he  said,  with  exquisite  simplicity  of  diction, 
'*  If  Slavery  is  not  wrong,  then  nothing  is  wrong." 
Would  you  find  any  condemnation  of  Slavery  more  com- 
plete, you  must  go  to  the  sayings  of  John  Brow^n  or  to 
those  famous  words  of  John  Wesley,  when  the  great 
Methodist  held  it  up '  as  "  the  sum  of  all  villanies." 
Another  mind,  more  submissive  to  the  truth  which  he 
recognized,  and  less  disposed  to  take  counsel  of  to-morrow, 
would  not  have  hesitated  in  carrying  forward  this  judg- 
ment to  its  natural  conclusion.  Perhaps,  his  courage  to 
apply  truth  was  not  always  equal  to  his  clearness  in 
seeing  it.  Perhaps,  the  heights  that  he  gained  in  con- 
science were  not  always  sustained  in  conduct.  And 
have  we  not  been  told  that  the  soul  can  gain  heights 
which  it  cannot  keep  ?  Thus  while  blasting  Slavery, 
he  still  waited,  till  many  feared  that  his  judgment  would 
"  lose  the  name  of  action."  And  even  while  vindicating 
the  Equality  of  all  Men,  against  the  assaults  of  one  of  the 
ablest  debaters  of  the  country,  and  insisting,  with  adrni- 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  139 

rable  constancy,  that  colored  persons  were  embraced 
•within  the  birthday  promises  of  the  Republic,  he  yet 
allowed  himself  to  be  pressed  by  his  adversary  to  an  il- 
logical limitation  of  this  self-evident  truth,  so  that  colored 
persons  might  be  excluded  from  political  rights.  But 
he  was  at  all  times  willing  to  learn  and  not  ashamed 
to  change.  Before  death  he  had  already  expressed  his 
desire  that. the  suffrage  should  be  extended  to  colored 
persons  in  certain  cases  ;  but  here  again  he  failed  to 
apply  that  very  principle  of  Equality  for  which  he  so 
often  contended.  If  the  suffrage  be  given  to  colored 
persons  only  in  certain  cases,  then,  of  course,  it  can  be 
given  to  whites  only  in  the  same  cases ;  or  Equality  ceases 
to  exist. 

It  was  his  own  frank  confession  that  he  had  not  con- 
trolled events,  but  that  they  had  controlled  him.  At  all 
the  great  stages  of  the  war,  he  followed  rather  than  led. 
The  people,  under  God,  were  masters.  Let  it  not  be  for- 
gotten that  the  triumphs  of  this  war,  and  even  Emanci- 
pation itself,  sprang  from  the  great  heart  of  the  Amer- 
ican people.  Individual  services  have  been  important ; 
but  there  is  no  man  who  has  been  necessary. 

There  was  one  theme  on  which  latterly  he  was  dis- 
posed to  conduct  the  public  mind.  It  was  the  treat- 
ment of  the  rebel  leaders.  His  policy  was  never  an- 
nounced, and  of  course  it  would  always  have  been 
subject  to  modification,  in  the  light  of  experience.  But 
it  is  well  known  that,  at  the  very  moment  of  his  assas- 
sination, he  was  much  occupied  by  thoughts  of  lenity 
and  pardon.  He  was  never  harsh,  even  in  speaking  of 


140  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

Jefferson  Davis  ;  and,  only  a  few  days  before  his  end, 
when  one  who  was  privileged  to  speak  to  him  in  that 
way,  said,  "Do  not  allow  him.  to  escape  the  law,  —  he 
must  be  hanged,"  the  President  replied  calmly,  in  the 
words  which  he  had  adopted  in  his  last  Inaugural  Ad- 
dress, "  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged."  And  when 
pressed  again  by  the  remark  that  the  sight  of  Libby 
Prison  made  it  impossible-  to  pardon  him,  the  President 
repeated  twice  over  these  same  words,  revealing  unmis- 
takably the  generous  sentiments  of  his  heart.  The  ques- 
tion of  clemency  here  is  the  very  theme  so  ably  debated 
between  Caesar  and  Cato,  while  the  Roman  Senate  was 
considering  the  punishment  of  the  confederates  of  Cati- 
line. Caesar  consented  to  confiscation  and  imprisonment, 
but  pleaded  for  the  lives  of  the  criminals.  Cato  was 
sterner.  It  is  probable  that  the  President,  who  was  a 
Cato  in  patriotism,  would  on  this  occasion  have  followed 
the  counsels  of  Csesar. 

Good  will  to  all  men  was  with  him  a  science  as  well  as 
a  sentiment.  His  nature  was  pacific,  and,  throughout  the 
terrible  conflict,  his  thoughts  were  always  turned  on 
peace.  He  wished  peace  among  ourselves,  and  he  wished 
peace  with  foreign  powers.  While  abounding  in  grati- 
tude to  the  officers  and  men,  who  had  so  grandly  fought  the 
national  battle,  he  longed  to  see  their  swords  ccncealed 
in  their  scabbards,  never  again  to  flash  against  the  sky. 
His  prudence  found  expression  in  the  saying,  "  One  war 
at  a  time ; "  but  his  whole  nature  seemed  to  say,  "  Peace 
always."  And  yet  it  was  his  fortune  to  conduct  one  of  the 
greatest  wars  of  all  time.  "  With  malice  towards  none  ; 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  141 

with  charity  for  all ;  with  firmness  for  the  right,  as  God 
gives  us  to  see  the  right ; "  so  he  worked  and  lived,  and 
these  words  of  his  own  might  be  his  honest  epitaph. 

His  place  in  history  may  be  seen  at  once  from  the 
transcendent  events  with  which  his  name  must  be  forever 
associated.  The  pyramids  of  our  country  are  built  by 
the  people  more  than  by  any  ruler ;  but  the  ruler  of  the 
people  at  such  a  moment  cannot  be  forgotten. 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation  as  an  historic  event.  Its  influence  cannot 
be  limited  to  the  present  in  place  or  time.  It  will  reach 
beyond  the  national  jurisdiction,  and  beyond  the  present 
age.  Besides  its  immediate  efficacy  in  liberating  slaves 
at  home,  it  will  be  one  of  the  landmarks  of  Human 
Progress.  From  the  solidarity  of  Slavery,  the  fall  of  this 
abomination  among  us,  must  cause  its  fall  everywhere,  — 
so  that  in  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  Brazil,  or  wherever  else 
a  slave  may  wear  a  chain,  that  Proclamation  will  be  felt. 
It  will  also  be  proudly  recognized  in  the  destinies  of  the 
Republic  which  it  advanced.  Only  a  short  time  before 
the  Czar  of  Russia,  by  Proclamation  also,  raised  twenty 
millions  of  serfs  to  the  dignity  of  freemen ;  but  even 
this  great  act  was  less  historic.  Though  of  incalculable 
importance  to  the  serfs,  it  was  not  the  'triumph  of 
Popular  Government,  and  it  came  from  the  East  instead 

of  the  West.     It  is  to  the  West  that  the  world  now  looks 

* 
for  sunrise.      Video  solem  orientem  in  occidente.     But  the 

Emancipation  Proclamation  itself  was  one  of  the  agencies 
in  the  military  overthrow  of  the  Rebellion,  which,  if 


142  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

regarded  as  an  achievement  of  war,  is  one  of  the  greatest 
in  the  history  of  war,  but,  if  regarded  in  its  political  con- 
sequences, is  one  of  the  grandest  events  in  all  history. 
Here  again  the  magnitude  of  the  event  can  be  -fully 
appreciated  only  when  it  is  considered,  that  the  triumph 
of  the  Republic  is  the  triumph  of  Popular  Institutions 
everywhere.  It  is  much  that  the  Republic  has  become 
impregnable,  whether  against  "  malice  domestic "  or 
"  foreign  levy ; "  but  it  is  more  that  it  has  become  an 
example  to  the  world.  That  all  this  should  be  done 
under  a  President,  who  represented  especially  the  people, 
who  spoke  always  in  sympathy  with  the  people  in  words 
of  power  that  cannot  be  forgotten,  and  who  sealed  his  de- 
votion with  his  life,  adds  to  the  grandeur  of  the  example. 

Here  are  great  heralds  of  fame,  such  as  few  have  had 
as  they  entered  the  lofty  portals.  Our  martyred  dead 
may  be  seen  also  in  the  company  to  which  he  will 
be  admitted,  among  the  purest  spirits  of  all  time, — 
martyrs,  patriots,  philanthropists,  servants  of  truth  and 
duty.  Milton,  Hampden,  Sidney,  Wilberforce,  —  all  will 
welcome  the  new-comer.  Washington  will  lead  the  hosts 
of  his  own  country  to  do  him  honor,  from  the  Pilgrims  of 
the  Mayflower  to  the  thronging  crowds  who  have  laid 
down  their  lives  for  the  Republic. 

By  the  association  of  a  common  death  he  will  pass 
into  the  same  historic  galaxy  with  Caesar,  William  of 
Orange,  and  Henry  IV.  of  France,  all  of  whom  were  as- 
sassinated,—  and  his  star  will  not  pale  by  the  side  of 
theirs.  Caesar  was  a  contrast  to  him  in  everything,  unless 
it  be  in  clemency,  and  in  the  coincidence  that  each  was 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  143 

fifty-six  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death.  .  How 
unlike  in  -all  else.  Caesar  was  of  a  brilliant  lineage, 
which  he  traced  on  one  side  to  the  immortal  gods,  and  on 
the  other  to  one  of  the  recent  chiefs  of  Rome ;  of  com- 
pletest  education ;  of  amplest  means ;  of  rarest  experi- 
ence ;  of  acknowledged  genius  as  statesman,  soldier,  ora- 
tor, and  writer ;  —  being  in  himself  the  most  finished  man 
of  antiquity ;  but  he  was  the  enslaver  of  his  country,  whose 
personal  ambition  took  the  place  of  patriotism,  and 
whose  name  has  since  become  the  synonyme  of  imperial 
power.  William  of  Orange  was  of  princely  origin,  and  in 
early  life  was  a  page  in  the  palace  of  Charles  V.  During 
the  long  contest  of  Holland  with  Spain,  he  became  the 
liberator  of  his  country,  which  he  conducted  wisely,  surely, 
and  greatly,  —  anticipating  the  example  of  Washington. 
The  name  of  "  Silent,"  which  he  bore,  may  suggest  the 
reticence  of  his  American  parallel.  Henry  IV.,  memorable 
for  practical  sense,  anecdote,  and  pregnant  wit,  represent- 
ed the  idea  of  National  Unity  in  France  as  the  Supreme 
condition  of  national  safety.  He  died,  leaving  great  plans 
unfulfilled,  and  his  career  has  been  illustrated  by  the  popu- 
lar epic  of  his  country,  La  Henriade,  of  Voltaire.  These 
are  illustrious  names  ;  but  there  is  nothing  in  them  which 
can  eclipse  the  simple  life  of  our  President,  whose  ex- 
ample will  be  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Humanity,  and 
a  rebuke  to  every  usurper,  —  to  be  commemorated  forever 
by  history  and  by  song.  The  cause  which  he  served  was 
more  than  empire.  The  motive  of  his  conduct  was  higher 
than  success ;  as  devotion  to  Human  Rights  is  higher 
than  genius  or  power ;  as  MAN  is  higher  than  aught  els 


144  .      MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

There  is  another  character,  who,  like  him,  was  taken 
away  at  the  age  of  fifty-six,  with  whom  the  President  may 
be  more  properly  compared.  It  is  'St.  Louis  of  France ; 
and  yet  here  the  resemblance  is  only  in  certain  kindred 
features,  and  the  common  consecration  of  their  lives. 
The  French  monarch,  though  at  the  head  of  a  military 
power,  was  a  lover  of  peace,  and  cultivated  justice  to- 
wards his  neighbors.  Under  his  influence,  a  barbarous 
institution  was  overthrown,  and  France  was  'lifted  in  the 
career  of  civilization.  Though  in  an  age  of  privilege,  and 
wearing  a  crown,  he  was  moved  to  the  practice  of  Equal- 
ity. History  recalls,  with  undisguised  delight,  the  simple 
justice  which  he  administered  to  his  people,  as  he  sat 
under  an  oak  in  the  park  of  Vincennes.  Our  President 
struck  too  at  a  barbarism,  and  lifted  his  country.  He  too 
practised  Equality.  And  he  too  had  his  oak  of  Vin- 
cennes. It  was  that  plain  room,  where  he  was  always 
so  accessible,  as  to  make  his  example  difficult  for  future 
Presidents.  But  there  were  stated  times  when  he  was 
open  to  all  who  came  with  their  petitions,  and  they  flocked 
across  the  continent.  The  transactions  of  that  simple 
court  of  last  resort  would  show  how  much  was  done  to 
temper  the  law,  to  assuage  sorrow,  and  to  care  for  the 
widow  and  orphan ;  but  its  only  record  is  in  heaven. 

Such,  fellow-citizens,  is  the  Life  and  Character  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  You  have  discerned  his  simple 
beginnings  ;  —  have  watched  his  early  struggles ;  — 
have  gratefully  followed  his  consecration  to  those  truths 
which  our  fathers  declared ;  —  have  hailed  him  as  the 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  145 

twice-elected  head  of  the  Republic,  through  whom  it  was 
known  in  foreign  lands ;  —  have  recognized  him  at  a 
period  of  national  trial  as  the  .  representative  of  the 
unfulfilled  promises  of  our  Fathers,  even  as  Washington 
was  the  representative  of  National  Independence ;  and 
you  have  beheld  him  struck  down,  at  the  moment  of 
victory  when  rebel  Slavery  was  everywhere  succumbing. 
Reverently  we  acknowledge  the  finger  of  the  Almighty, 
and  pray  that  all  our  trials  may  not  fail ;  but  that  the 
promises  of  the  Fathers  may  be  fulfilled,  so  that  all  men 
shall  be  equal  before  the  law,  and  government  shall  stand 
only  on  the  consent  of  the  governed,  —  two  self-evident 
truths  which  the  Republic  at  its  birth  announced. 

Traitorous  assassination  struck  him  down.  But  do  not 
be  too  vindictive  in  heart  towards  the  poor  atom  that 
held  the  weapon.  Reserve  your  rage  for  the  responsible 
Power,  which  not  content  with  assailing  the  life  of  the 
Republic  by  atrocious"  Rebellion,  has  outraged  all  laws 
human  and  divine ;  has  organized  Barbarism  as  a  prin- 
ciple of  conduct;  has  taken  the  lives  of  faithful  Unionists 
at  home;  has  prepared  robbery  and  murder  on  the 
northern  borders ;  has  fired  hotels,  filled  with  women 
and  children  ;  has  plotted  to  scatter  pestilence  and 
poison ;  has  perpetrated  piracy  and  ship-burning  at  sea  ; 
has  starved  American  citizens,  held  as  prisoners ;  has 
inflicted  the  slow  torture  of  Andersonville  and  Libby ; 
has  menaced  assassination  always ;  and  now  at  last,  true 
to  itself,  has  assassinated  our  President ;  and  this 
responsible  Power  is  none  other  than  Slavery.  It  is 
Slavery  that  has  taken  the  life  of  our  beloved  Chief 

19 


146  MEMORIAL    OP    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

Magistrate,  and  here  is  another  triumph  of  its  Barbarism. 
On  Slavery  let  vengeance  fall.  Spare  if  you  please  the 
worms  it  employs  ;  but  do  not  —  I  entreat  you  —  yield 
any  amnesty  to  this  murderous  wickedness.  Ravaillac, 
who  took  the  life  of  Henry  IV.  of  France,  was  torn 
in  pieces  on  the  public  square  in  front  of  the  City  Hall, 
by  four  powerful  horses,  each  of  them  attached  to  one  of 
his  limbs,  and  tearing  in  opposite  directions,  until  at  last, 
after  a  fearful  struggle,  nothing  of  the  wretched  assassin 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  executioner,  except  his 
bloody  shirt,  —  which  was  at  once  handed  over  to  be 
burned.  Such  be  our  vengeance  ;  and  let  Slavery  be  the 
victim. 

And  not  only  Slavery,  which  is  another  name  for 
property  in  man,  but  so  also  that  other  pretension,  which 
is  not  less  irrational  and  hateful,  that  Human  Rights  can 
depend  on  color.  This  is  the  bloody  shirt  of  the  assassin ; 
and  it  must  be  handed  over  to  be  "burned. 

Such  a  vengeance  will  be  like  a  kiss  of  reconciliation ; 
for  it  will  remove  every  obstacle  to  peace  and  harmony. 
The  people  where  Slavery  once  ruled  will  bless  the 
blow  which  destroyed  it.  The  people  where  the  kindred 
tyranny  of  Caste  once  ruled,  will  rejoice  that  this  too 
fell  under  the  same  blow.  They  will  yet  confess  that  it 
was  dealt  in  no  harshness  to  them,  in  no  unkindness,  in 
no  desire  to  humiliate,  but  simply  and  solemnly,  in  the 
name  of  the  Republic,  and  of  Human  Nature ;  for  their 
good  as  well  as  ours  ;  ay,  for  their  good  more  than  ours. 

It  is  by  ideas  that  we  have  conquered,  more  than  by 
armies.  The  sword  of  the  Archangel  was  less  mighty 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  147 

than  the  mission  which  he  bore  from  the  Lord.  But  if 
the  ideas  which  have  given  us  the  victory  are  now  neg- 
lected ;  if  the  promises  of  the  Declaration,  which  the 
Rebellion  openly  assailed,  are  still  left  unfulfilled,  then 
will  our  blood  and  treasure  have  "been  lavished  in  vain. 
Alas  !  for  the  dead  who  have  given  themselves  so  bravely 
to  their  country ;  alas !  for  the  living  who  have  been  left 
to  mourn  the  dead  ;  —  if  any  relic  of  Slavery  is  allowed 
to  continue ;  especially  if  this  bloody  impostor,  defeated 
in  the  pretension  of  property  in  man,  is  allowed  to  per- 
petuate an  Oligarchy  of  the  skin  ! 

And  how  shall  these  ideas  be  saved?  In  other 
words,  how  shall  the  war  waged  by  Abraham  Lincoln 
be  brought  to  an  end,  so  as  to  secure  peace,  tran- 
quillity and  reconciliation  ?  At  this  moment  all  turns 
on  the  colored  suffrage  in  the  rebel  States.  This 
is  now  the  pivot  of  national  safety.  A  mistake  on  this  point 
is  worse  than  the  loss  of  a  battle.  And  yet  here  again 
we  encounter  the  Rebellion  in  all  its  odious  pretsnsions, 
hardly  less  audacious  than  when  it  took  up  arms.  As  its 
camp-fires  expire,  the  men  who  have  trimmed  them  — 
taking  fresh  oaths  of  allegiance  on  their  lips  —  renew 
their  early  activity  in  plotting  how  still  to  preserve  an 
oligarchical  power*  The  demon  of  Caste  takes  the  place 
of  the  demon  of  Slavery.  In  setting  ourselves  against  this 
fearful  demon,  we  only  follow  the  solemn  behests  of  the 
great  Declaration,  of  which  our  martyred  President  was 
the  champion.  And  now  as  I  close  this  humble  tribute, 
let  me  ask  you  to  adopt  that  championship  which  was  his 


148  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

first  and  most  constant  title  to  the  national  gratitude.  Let 
each  be  a  standard-bearer  of  the  Declaration.  I  cannot 
err,  if  speaking  at  his  funeral,  I  detain  you  to  insist  upon 
this  absorbing  duty  in  which  for  the  moment  all  other 
duties  are  swallowed  up. 

The  argument  for  the  colored  suffrage  is  overwhelming. 
It  springs  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  as  well  as  from 
the  rights  of  man.  This  suffrage  is  needed  for  the  secur- 
ity of  the  colored  people  ;  for  the  stability  of  the  local 
government ;  and  for  the  strength  of  the  Union.  Without 
it  there  is  nothing  but  insecurity  for  the  colored  people, 
instability  for  the  local  government,  and  weakness  for  the 
Union,  involving  of  course  the  national  credit.  Without 
it  the  Rebellion  will  break  forth  under  a  new  alias, 
unarmed  it  may  be,  but  with  white  votes,  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  local  government  and  wield  it  at  will, 
whether  at  home  or  in  the  national  councils.  If  it  be 
said  that  the  colored  people  are  unfit,  then  do  I  say 
that  they  are  more  fit  than  their  recent  masters,  or  even 
than  many  among  the  "  poor  whites."  They  have  been 
loyal  always,  and  who  are  you,  that,  under  any  pretence, 
exalts  the  prejudices  of  the  disloyal  above  the  rights  of 
the  loyal  ^  Their  suffrage  is  now  needed ;  more  even 
than  you  ever  needed  their  muskets  or  sabres.  An  Eng- 
lish statesman,  after  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Spanish 
Colonies  as  Independent  States,  boasted  that  he  had  called 
a  new  world  into  existence  to  redress  the  balance  of  the 
old.  In  similar  spirit,  we  too  must  call  a  new  ballot 
into  existence  to  redress  that  tyranny  which  will  not 
learn  the  duty  of  justice  to  the  colored  race. 


MR.  SUMMER'S  EULOGY.  149 

The  same  National  authority  that  struck  down  Slavery 
must  see  that  this  other  pretension  is  not  permitted  to 
survive;  nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  that  the  authority 
which  struck  down  Slavery  is  competent  to  this  kindred 
duty.  Each  is  a  part  of  that  great  policy  of  justice 
through  which  alone  can  peace  be  made  permanent  and 
immutable.  Nor  can  the  Republic  shirk  this  remaining 
duty,  without  leaving  Emancipation  unfinished  and  the 
early  promises  of  the  Republic  unfulfilled.  Vain  is 
the  gift  of  Liberty,  if  you  surrender  the  rights  of 
the  freedman  to  be  judged  by  the  recent  assertors  of 
property  in  man.  Burke,  in  his  day,  saw  the  flagrant 
inconsistency  and  denounced  it,  saying,  that,  whatever 
such  people  did  on  this  subject  was  "  arrant  trifling,"  and, 
notwithstanding  its  plausible  form,  always  wanted  what 
he  aptly  called  "  the  executive  principle."  These  words 
of  warning  have  been  adopted  and  repeated  by  two  later 
statesmen,  George  Canning  and  Henry  Brougham ;  but 
they  are  so  plain  as  not  to  need  the  support  of  names. 
The  infant  must  not  be  handed  over  to  be  suckled  by  the 
wolf,  but  carefully  nursed  by  its  parent ;  and  since  the 
Republic  is  the  parent  of  Emancipation,  the  Republic 
must  nurse  the  immortal  infant  into  maturity  and 
strength.  It  is  the  Republic  which  at  the  beginning 
took  up  this  great  work.  The  Republic  must  finish  what 
it  began ;  and  it  cannot  err  on  this  occasion,  if,  in  anxious 
care,  it  holds  nothing  done  so  long  as  anything  remains 
undone.  It  is  the  Republic,  which,  with  matchless 
energy,  hurled  forward  its  armies  until  it  conquered. 
The  Republic  must  exact  that  "  security  for  the  future," 


150  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

without  which  this  unparalleled  war  will  have  been 
waged  in  vain.  It  is  the  Eepublic,  which  to-day,  with 
one  consenting  voice,  commemorates  the  murdered  dead. 
The  same  Republic,  prompt  to  honor  him,  must  require 
that  his  promises  to  an  oppressed  race  be  maintained  in 
all  their  integrity  and  completeness,  in  letter  and  in  spirit, 
so  that  the  great  cause  for  which  he  became  a  sacrifice, 
may  not  fail.  His  martyrdom  was  a  new  pledge  beyond 
any  even  in  life. 

There  can  be  no  question  here,  whether  a  State  is  in 
the  Union  or  out  of  it.  This  is  but  a  phrase  on  which 
discussion  is  useless.  Look  at  the  actual  fact.  Here  all 
will  agree.  The  old  governments  are  vacated ',  and  this 
is  enough.  Until  the  whole  body  of  loyal  people  have  set 
up  a  government,  all  is  under  the  National  authority,  act- 
ing by  the  Executive  or  by  Congress  ;  and,  since  the  Con- 
stitution, even  without  the  injunction  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  knows  nothing  of  color,  it  is  the  obvious 
duty  of  the  National  authority  to  protect  the  whole  body  of 
loyal  people  against  any  denial  of  rights  on  this  preten- 
sion. Already  it  has  undertaken  to  say  that  certain  per- 
sons shall  not  vote.  Surely  the  same  authority  which  may 
limit  the  electoral  law  of  Slavery,  may  enlarge  it.  If  the 
National  authority  can  do  anything  about  elections ;  if  it 
can  order  an  election ;  if  it  can  regulate  an  election ;  if 
it  can  exclude  a  traitor  who  is  still  at  large,  it  can  admit 
a  loyalist,  whose  only  incapacity  is  his  skin. 

The  colored  suffrage  is  now  a  necessity.     But  beyond 
this,  in  making  it  an  essential  condition  of  the  restoration 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  151 

of  rebel  States  to  the  Union,  we  follow,  first,  the  law  of 
reason  and  of  nature,  and  secondly  the  Constitution,  not 
only  in  its  text,  but  as  read  in  the  light  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  By  reason  and  nature  there  can  be 
no  denial  of  rights  on  account  of  color ;  and  we  can  do 
nothing  which  is  thus  irrational  and  unnatural.  By  the 
Constitution  it  is  stipulated  that  the  "  United  States  shall 
guarantee  to  every  State  a  republican  form  of  government ;  " 
but  the  meaning  of  this  guaranty  must  be  found  in  the 
birthday  Declaration  of  the  Republic,  which  is  the 
controling  preamble  of  the  Constitution.  Beyond  all 
question  the  United  States,  when  called  to  enforce  this 
guaranty,  must  insist  on  the  Equality  of  all  men  before  the 
law,  and  the  consent  of  the  governed.  Such  is  the  true 
idea  of  a  Republican  government  according  to  American 
institutions. 

The  slave-masters,  driven  from  their  first  intrench- 
ments,  already  occupy  inner  defences.  Property  in  man  • 
is"  abandoned;  but  they  now  insist  that  colored  persons 
shall  not  enjoy  political  rights.  Liberty  has  been  won. 
The  battle  for  Equality  is  still  pending.  And  now  a  new 
compromise  is  proposed,  by  which  colored  persons  are 
to  be  sacrificed  in  the  name  of  State  Rights.  It  is  sad 
that  it  should  be  so.  But  I  do  not  despair.  The  cause 
may  be  delayed ;  but  it  cannot  be  lost ;  and  all  who 
set  themselves  against  it  will  be  overborne ;  for  it  is  the 
cause  of  Humanity.  Not  the  rich  and  proud,  but  the 
poor  and  lowly,  will  be  the  favorites  of  an  enfranchised 
Republic.  The  words  of  the  prophet  will  be  fulfilled ; 


152  MEMORIAL    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

"  and  I  will  punish  the  people  for  their  evil,  and  the 
wicked  for  their  iniquity,  and  I  will  cause  the  arrogance 
of  the  proud  to  cease,  and  will  lay  low  the  haughtiness 
of  the  terrible.  I  WILL  MAKE  A  MAN  MORE 
PRECIOUS  THAN  FINE  GOLD,  EVEN  A  MAN, 
THAN  THE  GOLDEN  WEDGE  OF  OPHIR."  I 
catch  these  sublime  promises,  and  echo  them  back  as  the 
assurance  of  triumph.  Then  will  the  Republic  be  all  that 
heart  can  desire  or  imagination  can  paint — "  Supremely 
lovely  and  serenely  great,  Majestic  mother  "  of  a  free,  happy, 
and  united  people,  with  Slavery  and  all  its  tyranny 
beaten  down  under  foot,  so  that  no  man  shall  call  another 
master,  and  all  shall  be  equal  before  the  law. 

Fellow-citizens,  your  task  is  before  you.  Mourn  not  the 
dead,  but  rejoice  in  his  life  and  example.  Rejoice  as  you 
point  to  this  child  of  the  people  who  was  lifted  so  high,  that 
»Republican  Institutions  became  manifest  in  him.  Rejoice 
that  through  him  Emancipation  was  proclaimed.  Rejoice 
that  under  him  "  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people 
and  for  the  people,"  has  obtained  a  final  verdict  which 
can  never  be  set  aside  or  questioned.  Above  all,  see  to  it 
that  his  constant  vows  are  performed,  and  that  the  prom- 
ises of  the  Fathers  are  maintained,  so  that  no  person 
in  the  upright  form  of  man  can  be  shut  out  from  their 
protection.  Do  this,  and  the  Unity  of  the  Republic  will 
be  fixed  on  a  foundation  that  cannot  fail.  The  corner- 
stone of  National  Independence  is  already  in  its  place, 
and  on  it  is  inscribed  the  name  of  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


MR.  SUMNER'S  EULOGY.  153 

There  is  another  stone  which  must  have  its  place  at 
the  corner  also.  This  is  the  great  Declaration  itself, 
once  a  promise  only,  at  last  a  reality.  On  this  ada- 
mantine stone  we  will  gratefully  inscribe  the  name  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


